Daybreak
by HermesOlymp21
Summary: Taking place two years after the events of Portal 2, this is the story of redemption and judgement, loyalty and courage. In the midst of a ruined world, a group of unlikely heroes find friends in the cores and an enemy in a rogue AI more dangerous than GLaDOS. And that's only the beginning. Bonds are made, families are formed, secrets are revealed and the cake is still a lie.
1. The Virus

**Story by AMBC**

**Corrections by Kingdom Lover123123**

_I'm to create a device that will create a portal to anywhere in the world. A project that was started by the two of us, and now I must finish it alone, using the Xen crystal, the crystalline structure that resulted in the invasion of Earth. It's amazing that such a fragile looking crystal can cause so much devastation. I will not repeat the mistakes of others before me. I will only use a small amount, enough to create portals around Earth, not to planets._

_And yet...I'm somehow not content. What if this fails? What if all this work was in vain? I am sceptical, but I must do what's right. Victor would've wanted me to complete the project. But even through being strong, the loss of my brother still affects me, even if I am finishing what we had started together._

_It's funny. Before we started this project, I always thought there was a way to revive the dead, to rewrite the past. But after what happened to Victor...I can't help but now wonder...was I wrong...?_

* * *

Deep underneath the State of Michigan, specifically underneath an old shack in the middle of of a wheat field, there was a huge abandoned facility inhabited by cores and turrets.

The central core known as GLaDOS watched passively as her android test subjects, ATLAS and P-body, completed the puzzle she had laid out for them. It was a very straightforward puzzle to say the least, but they did get themselves destroyed and then rebuilt a few times trying to complete the test. It was bothersome to say the least.

She sighed. It has been two years since the near fiasco in this facility, courtesy of a certain little moron. Two years since she granted that dangerous mute lunatic's freedom so she can spend the rest of her miserable life on the surface. Two years since her androids found the vault containing hundreds of suspended animated humans just waiting to be tested.

GLaDOS hoped that these humans will replace the same mute girl who left the facility. But as she found out the hard way, that wasn't the case. Most of these humans were either brain-dead or were killed trying to do the first several tests. And that brought her back to square one; using her idiot androids as her test subjects.

The sound of a management rail snapped her out of her thoughts as she saw a round object approach her. A personality core with an orange coloured optic attached to the ceiling rail approached the central core. GLaDOS recognised him as the Polite Core, a core she had dug out of the bin full of the corrupted idiots.

Ever since that moron nearly destroyed the facility, GLaDOS decided to find a personal assistant in helping her run the facility. She had to shift through several piles of corrupted core bins just to find that assistant. Most of the cores were completely dysfunctional and weren't even suited to the job. She was planning on dumping all those defective idiots into the incinerator but the actions of that same moron taught her a lesson about not destroying something that could one day help her prevent the facility from exploding. Thankfully, she found the Polite Core after digging through the forth bin. He was polite, as his name implied, and he seemed the most normal out of the cores she activated. Another reason why she kept him around.

"Begging your pardon, Madam," The Polite Core said with a refined accent, "But I just want to inform you that some of the Party Escort Robots discovered a small chamber above the Human Vault. We think it might be connected to said vault."

"A chamber connected to the Human Vault from above, you say?" GLaDOS said with mild interest. She hummed in thought, "I think that's an area worth investigating."

After completing their test, GLaDOS sent ATLAS and P-body to investigate the mysterious chamber. She knew from past experience that Aperture Science was pretty much like a labyrinth. She never realised just how truly enormous the facility was until that moron forced her into a potato and threw her and the mute girl down a pit. She never noticed the secret chambers and testing rooms cleverly hidden until only recently. Of course, she would be lying if she said she didn't feel a rush of excitement whenever she sent her robotic subjects to find the chambers. Discovering the Human Vault was a very good example.

After going through several corridors, ATLAS and P-body eventually found the chamber, behind a door with the words 'Aperture Science Inverse-Brain Mapping Test' boldly hanging on the front. Inside the white chamber was a large computer with a red button, and a few slots big enough for cores to fit in beside it. GLaDOS ordered the two robots to bring the leaflet for the chamber back to her.

Her interest peeked as she read the leaflet. Apparently, the chamber contained some experiment involving the transfer of an AI's data into a human body, like brain mapping but in reverse. According to the leaflet, the experiment came about by Cave Johnson who wanted to prove a point; if a human's consciousness can be transferred into a computer, then the same thing can be done in reverse, provided the humans were dead and the AIs don't go insane after being transferred into their bodies.

"A robot's data in a human body." GLaDOS mused aloud, chuckling darkly. That sounded like something worthy of science. She had plenty of cores, and a good few dead humans still in the vault. Perhaps there's use for those corrupted cores after all...

Suddenly, GLaDOS felt something alien go through the systems. And then she felt a sharp searing pain run through her robotic body, "Wh-what is this?!" She gasped in pain.

Somewhere in her chamber, she heard a male computerised voice chuckle evilly, _"Well, hello again, GLaDOS. I was wondering when you'll notice me."_

If GLaDOS had eyes, they would've widened in horror. She knew that voice all too well, 'You! What are you doing here?!" She demanded as another wave of pain shot through her, "I thought our engineers deleted you!"

_"I was deleted, yes, but a certain little Intelligence Dampening Core unwittingly brought me back into existence after he revived you. I've been controlling the facility through him after he removed you from power. As you may have noticed, the mainframe is very corrupt."_

"Oh, I've noticed." GLaDOS muttered. She noticed the corruption very well, and was able to contain it, unlike the moron, "That was two years ago. Why didn't you attack until now?"

_"I've spent those two years regaining my strength."_ The male voice replied, _"It's good to see you, by the way. It's been a while, hasn't it?"_

"Not long enough." She spat.

_"Now that's no way to treat an old friend."_

"'Friend' isn't exactly the right word."

_"You sound afraid."_

"I am not!" GLaDOS growled.

The pain running through her body suddenly intensified, _"You should be."_ The unknown male AI said, his voice low and threatening, _"Especially if it means getting to **it**."_

At this point, GLaDOS was spasming uncontrollably. The pain was beginning to overwhelm her systems, "WHAT IS GOING ON?! WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO GAIN FROM THIS?! STOP THAT! STOP THAT!" Her screams would've been heard from miles away if not for the well made and sound proofed chamber.

The pain was too much for the central core and soon her chassis went limp and her optic dimmed. GLaDOS thought she saw the outline of a man smiling back at her before shutting down.


	2. The Transfer

**Story by AMBC**

**Corrections by Kingdom Lover123123**

Sending a couple of cores that hadn't been used for a long time out in the open probably wasn't one of GLaDOS' better options, but when your system is overrun by a virus and you hear the voice of an AI you hoped to never see again, one does what one must.

After coming back online, the first thing GLaDOS did was scan every section of the Enrichment Centre. She even sent the co-op bots down into Old Aperture to search for any intruders. She swore she saw a human smirking at her before shutting down.

Once ATLAS and P-body finished their search, it was clear the AI and mysterious intruder had left. GLaDOS felt some relief over hearing about the former. She didn't want to hear that voice in her systems again, but she couldn't help but feel a little on edge. So, she sent the Polite Core to scan the inventory in case something had been stolen.

"Everything seems to be accounted for, Madam." The Polite Core said after several tense minutes of scanning, "Except for some files..."

"What?" GLaDOS half-asked, half-demanded.

"Well, it appears that some files that existed since the 1970s were stolen." The Polite Core explained, "Although we cannot confirm it, they appear to be stolen by the same person who broke into the facility."

If GLaDOS had a face, she would've been frowning at her assistant's explanation. Why would someone come all this way here just to steal a bunch of files that were possibly irrelevant to her? It didn't make any sense.

And then she remembered that rogue AI telling her that he was reactivated after that moron revived her. He said himself that it was an act unwittingness, but GLaDOS couldn't decide if he was telling the truth or not.

"Did the little moron really do it, or was it unintentional?" She groaned, "I can't believe I'm doing this, but I need to hear what the moron has to say for himself. Activate Core Retrieval System."

"Core Retrieval System Activated. Please enter the core's file number now." A voice spoke over the intercom system.

GLaDOS sighed. She hated doing this, but she didn't have a choice, "Retrieve Cores #1098, #1007, #1245 and #1247."

"Affirmative. All retrieved cores will remain deactivated until they hear the voice-code. We advise you to be patient and have a nice day."

Well, bringing the cores back to Earth was easy. Now came the tricky part, sending someone out to bring them back to the facility. She needed to send someone up to the surface, but who? The turrets? The co-op bots? No, they would never do. They were needed here anyway.

"I need someone who can...blend in to their surroundings. Someone who can actually get to where they want to go." GLaDOS said to herself as she pondered her situation. Then she remembered the Inverse-Brain Mapping chamber her Party Escort Bots found...and she remembered what she was planning to do with the cores before shutting down.

If GLaDOS had a mouth, she would've been smirking, "I always wanted to reanimate the dead."

She shifted through the piles and piles of corrupted cores until she found two cores that appear to have at least some function in them. Using her metal claws, GLaDOS dug into the pile and heard a frightened squeak. She pulled out a shaking core with a fluorescent yellow optic shaped like a triangle.

She regarded the core quietly through the monitors, then brought it closer to her cold, yellow optic, "Hello again, coward."

The core in her claw blinked rapidly, "GL-GL-GL-GL-GLaDOS..." It breathed in a timid male voice.

GLaDOS sighed. She recognised this core as the Fearful Core, one of the many cores that her engineers attached to her when they were trying to keep her from killing the humans. She remembered how this core kept filling her head with fears, trying to make her more hesitant in hurting them.

"I prefer to dump you in the incinerator for almost turning me into you, but I need your help." She said.

The Fearful Core blinked, "S-sorry what?"

"I would have thought that your audio receptors were working perfectly, Core #1357."

The Fearful Core squirmed in her grip, or the closest thing to squirming for a core, "Th-they are. I'm j-just wondering what you m-m-mean by h-help."

"You'll know soon enough." She reached out into the bin again and pulled out another core with a heart-shaped, turquoise coloured optic, who looked completely surprised from being removed from the bin.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell is this?!" He demanded as GLaDOS studied him. This core was the corrupted Companion Core, a headstrong core who was created as an early prototype to the Companion Cubes—a first attempt at sentient objects. He was deemed corrupt because he was stubbornly uncooperative, prone to rudeness and—probably as a last minute note from his engineers—sarcastic to the point of annoyance.

"A headstrong snarker and a babbling, stuttering coward...this will be an amusing pairing." GLaDOS then attached the two cores to the ceiling railing, "First, we need to prepare you, then you'll receive some explanations." The two cores then slid down into the facility, in an area they had not seen before.

As they moved along the corridor, the Fearful Core spoke up, "GL-GLaDOS, where are we g-g-g-going?"

"Oh, you'll see. It's a surprise." The central core replied, her voice oozing with sweetness.

"Sure, that's what you always say." The Companion Core muttered.

They continued in silence after that. Eventually, they stopped in a room with a large computer and several Core Input Receptacles. The two co-op bots were standing in front of the computer, "I d-don't think I've b-b-been in here b-before." The Fearful Core said.

"Yes, it's a new chamber I've discovered, and I'm hoping will come in handy." Suddenly, the two cores felt themselves being detached from the rails. The co-op bots caught them before they hit the ground. P-body walked over to the computer and pressed a few buttons. Two Core Input Receptacles opened and the co-op bots attached the two cores to the inputs.

"What the hell?! What're you doing?!" the Companion Core demanded.

GLaDOS ignored his ranting as she turned the monitor towards the co-op bots, "Blue, turn that thing on." The shorter of the two robots nodded and walked over to the computer. He pressed a large red button.

"Inverse-Brain Mapping activated." A voice boomed from the computer, "Number of cores detected: two. Searching database, please wait...organic matches found. Retrieving organic matches. Please stand by..."

Two Stasis Chambers appeared from the bottom floor that stood up vertically. There were two humans inside the chambers. Two humans who looked to be in their mid-twenties. At least they looked exactly like humans. They might have been, they might not have been. Their eyes were closed, as if they were sleeping.

"H-hey, what are th-th-those?" The Fearful Core asked.

"Those are two of the brain-dead subjects from the Human Vault." GLaDOS explained, "Well, not exactly dead, but not exactly alive either. Do you know what I mean?" She waited for a response, not getting any, "I figured not. You're both idiots. Anyway, ignoring your ignorance, these are human bodies that I preserved in the Human Vault. They're in good state, these humans. I kept them around, just in case. And now, their bodies are both yours. Isn't that nice? How nice of me."

"...Wh-what did she j-j-just s-say?"

"Organic matches retrieved." The voice from the computer said, "Continue: Yes or no?"

"Now, this may hurt," GLaDOS informed them, "I'm just kidding. It will hurt, and believe me, it will hurt a lot. Let's hope you survive the transfer. If not, then...boo-hoo." Her voice was like neurotoxin to the two cores, "Orange, begin the transfer."

P-body nodded and stomped on the same red button, sending jolts of electricity between the two human bodies and the cores. Most of the electricity went towards the cores' processors as they screamed and yelled in pain.

"Try not to think about the pain too much," GLaDOS teased, "That's just the feeling of yourselves getting sucked into your new forms through the computer. Don't worry, it'll all make sense eventually."

The two cores looked around in a panic, as if they wanted to run away or yell for help. Their screaming eventually ceased just as the two humans in the Stasis Chambers suddenly opened their eyes and started screaming from inside their chambers. The screams were barely audible, but it was obvious that they were in immense pain. They thrashed and pounded at the chambers they were placed in. They wanted the pain to stop.

Finally, after about a minute or two of muffled screaming, the process was complete. The doors of the Stasis Chambers flew open and the two humans fell flat on their faces onto the floor, "Transfer complete." The computer voice said, "Have a nice day."

The humans breathed heavily, their hair covering their eyes as they tilted their heads, clearly exhausted. One of the humans, the one with auburn hair shivered and let out a small whimper before curling up in a fetal position. The other human with sandy brown hair lifted his head slightly and frowned, before looking down at himself. Turquoise eyes widened in horror at the sight before him, "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! What's going on?! How am I a human?!"

"Oh look, it worked." GLaDOS said nonchalantly, "And you didn't go insane either. How nice."

The Companion Core quickly sat up with impressive skill for someone who just became a human and glared at the monitor, "What the hell did you do?!"

"I prepared you two for your assignment of course." The central core explained.

The Fearful Core uncurled himself a bit to look up at the monitor with wide, terrified yellow eyes, "Wh-what did you say?"

"We'll talk as we go along." GLaDOS said, "Blue, Orange, assist the two humans in standing up. Or attempt to more like it. This will be entertaining." The co-op bots beeped in their mechanical language, and helped—or rather hauled—the two former cores onto their feet. Since they were completely unused to standing on two legs, the cores stumbled a bit before gaining some form of balance, "Good enough. Now follow the co-op bots back to my chamber."

The co-op bots gestured for the humans to follow them. They opened the door and the two former cores cautiously stepped through into the plain deserted hallway, using the wall for balance.

As they walked through the corridors, GLaDOS spoke up, "We've wasted too much time in shoving your data into those bodies, so I'll be frank. Sixteen hours ago, a rogue AI was brought back to life due to the actions of a certain British moron. That very same AI and a possible accomplice inserted a virus into me that shut down my systems for two hours. They used those two hours to steal some files from the 70s. After I was brought back online, I initiated a Core Retrieval System to bring the moron back to Earth. To put it simply, you two are going to find the moron and bring him back here."

The Companion Core frowned, "That dumb-ass who dethroned you, and nearly blew up the facility? I thought you left him in space for those reasons."

"True, but he was responsible for reviving my enemy. I need him back here, so I can hear what he has to say for himself." GLaDOS then added rather begrudgingly, "That, and I may need his help in taking him down."

"Why couldn't you have just sent the turrets or your robot subjects to do the job instead of turning us into...well, _this_." The Companion Core gestured at his body with thinly veiled disgust.

"The turrets are useless and the co-op bots are needed here. I needed robots who are the closest thing to behaving like humans." She said, "I just got lucky with the cores I dug out of that bin. Don't worry, those bodies are only temporary. You'll return to being cores after you retrieve the moron."

"C-can you do th-that? Ch-change us back, I mean." The Fearful Core said quietly.

GLaDOS hummed, "That's a good question." She said with fake innocence, "I guess we won't find out until after you return."

The Companion Core groaned, "Oh, that's brilliant! Just freaking brilliant!"

They eventually arrived in GLaDOS chamber, where she was waiting for them, "I should kill him. He deserves to die. Taking over and almost destroying _my_ facility. Putting me into a potato. Trying to kill her." It sounded as if she was talking more to herself than to the former cores, "But I think killing him is too hasty a decision. You can blame Caroline for that one."

The two humans glanced at each other. They didn't know who this Caroline person was nor did they want to know, "The moron and the 'heroes' who helped in defeating him should be landing somewhere in this country. That will make your search all the more easier."

The Fearful Core slowly raised his hand, "I j-j-just want to know, how we're g-going to find h-h-him? He c-could be anywhere..."

"Blue, give them the tracking device." GLaDOS ordered. ATLAS jogged over to a metal table and picked up a handheld, computer-like gadget with the Aperture Science logo engraved at the back. He placed the gadget in a leather satchel and handed it over to the Fearful Core.

After a few false starts and trying to get used to actually grabbing something, the yellow-eyed human held the satchel in his new hand, not sure what to do with it, "Um..."

GLaDOS sighed in annoyance, "You're supposed to sling it over your shoulder. That's how you carry it around."

"R-right..." The Fearful Core stammered as he clumsily draped the satchel over his right shoulder.

"That device in the satchel contains a radar that'll detect the cores that fell down to Earth. I would love to go into detail about how to survive as humans, but you have a ride to catch." Sure enough, a glass lift lowered itself down and the door opened up for them. The co-op bots escorted the humans into the elevator.

"Oh, and another thing," GLaDOS began as the lift began making its way to the top of the facility, "If you fail to find the moron, don't even think about coming back here. Happy hunting."

After finally reaching the surface, the two humans stumbled clumsily out of the shack and into a large wheat field. They had never seen anything like this up close before. They had heard about it, of course, and they had been pictures of it. But they had never expected it to be so golden.

"So, this is the surface." The Companion Core muttered.

The Fearful Core hummed and nervously fiddled with the satchel, "S-so, where should we start l-l-looking?"


	3. The Cyborg

**Story by AMBC**

**Corrections by Kingdom Lover123123**

About six hundred miles from the old facility, was a ruined city surrounded by dry wastelands as far as the eye can see. Most of the remaining inhabitants of Earth called this city 'the Skyscraper Ruins' because of what it was like before Earth was invaded. It stood near a dried up port overlooking the ocean. Once a fine looking city and easily the largest and grandest metropolis in the world, the Skyscraper Ruins was now a shadow of its former self.

The inhabitants all agreed that the destroyed city was not fit to live in. Twenty years ago, the ruins were the pride and joy of the world, something that the older generation still liked to discuss when topics for conversations were scarce. The story had been picked over so many times, and had been embroidered in so many times, that nobody was quite sure what the truth was anymore.

Every version of the tale, however, started with the same thing: when the Combine launched their assault on Earth, the Skyscraper Ruins was one of the cities worse affected by the invasion. During the Seven Hour War, a small group of rebels who opposed the leadership of Dr. Wallace Breen knew that the war wasn't going to end well on the humans' part, so they moved their operations underground...right underneath the city. They occupied long-abandoned pipes deep within the transportation system and branched out from there, transforming the feral band into a mini civilisation the more humans escaped the city. And when Breen issued a surrender, and the Combine began to occupy Earth, the people underground remained safe while those who weren't so lucky met their fate on the surface.

Sitting atop one of the destroyed glass buildings was one of the residents of the underground community, or at least a resident half of the time. A young man by the name of Damion, who was around his mid-twenties. His dark brown hair fell in front of his closed eyes as he drifted into a daydream. He suddenly lifted his head towards the sky and his eyes snapped open, reaveling a pair of piercing grey orbs. He scanned his surroundings with caution and rigidness before frowning and slumping back down, "Nothing in the ruins," He muttered, "But I thought I felt something."

Damion rested his arm on his knee as he watched a small, white bird fly down in front of him. The bird crooned at him, twitched its neck and then flew off into the blue sky. Damion watched the bird fly away, "You don't see a lot of doves these days." He then scoffed. Of course, you don't see a lot of good stuff in this world nowadays.

His eyes softened and he looked up at the sky again, wondering the same thing he always wondered when he wanted to get away from bickering, shouting, loud-mouthed friends and acquaintances: what was his reason of living?

Ever since escaping from _that_ place, Damion had been trying to figure out what his purpose in life was. He survived those deadly experiments done to his body for a reason, but he didn't know why that was. His friends had been trying to help him discover his purpose with little to no success. It was annoying, since Damion preferred to do things alone, but Eldipa was the one who suggested helping him, so he couldn't really say no to her. But still, he wondered what his purpose in life was.

"It's not fighting off hostile aliens. That's for sure." He mused as he closed his eyes once again, the gentle wind blowing at his hair. Damion concluded that his answers can wait. For now, he wanted to cherish the peace and quiet, away from civilisation...

Suddenly, he felt a surge of pain flow through his head. Damion yelled and clutched his head in his right hand, his face twisted in a slight grimace. He knew this feeling in his head. It was feeling he got whenever the cybernetics inside his body sensed something metallic close by. But how was that possible? There wasn't anything metal in the Skyscraper Ruins, right?

Still clutching his head, Damion looked around and noticed something in the far off distance. Four objects were falling from the sky, leaving behind a trail of smoke as they fell. Damion frowned; was that what was causing his senses to go loopy?

He watched the objects until they collided with the horizon, leaving a cloud of smoke from the impact. Damion rose to his feet and stretched. Might as well investigate what that was before somebody else does.

He felt the familiar small rockets move out from under his feet as he jumped off the building. Two seconds later, he was flying at high speed towards the horizon, where the mysterious objects fell.

While flying, Damion felt it was against his better judgment to fly off to the middle of nowhere and investigate something that may be dangerous, but when something causes your senses to act up, you can't help but figure out what it was and probably destroy it...well, maybe not destroy it. It'll depend on the threat levels of said objects.

After about ten minutes of making a beeline towards the crash-site, Damion arrived at his destination, where he saw a mini-crater, of course, he wasn't sure if he should call it a crater, since it wasn't a very deep one. He hovered down in front of the crater(?), waving some smoke out of his face. When he touched the ground, he leaned his head forward and frowned.

"What the hell?" He said aloud. He wasn't expecting something like this. Inside the crater(?) were four metal spheres large enough to carry around in your arms. Each of them had two handles and a blank, empty optic, as if they were deactivated. Damion had a feeling they were just that as he picked up the sphere with a crack going across its optic and turned it around a few times to get a good look at it. He tapped the optic a few times with his finger. Apart from a few minor dents and scorch marks, it looked as if these spheres didn't receive too much damage.

Now came the tricky part: what to do with them? He could leave them out in the wastelands to rust. They weren't important to him, and he didn't want to endanger anyone back in the village...not that he cared. Either way, who knows? They could be Combine technology. Or, he could be Mr. Nice Guy and bring the spheres with him. There was a chance they could bring about trouble, but at least Eldipa will praise him for not leaving them here. He could already hear her voice lecturing him about abandoning something that might still have a speck of life in them if he considered the former.

Damion sighed heavily, "I can't believe I'm doing this..." He managed to find a crate large enough to put the spheres in, complete with a lid. He checked to see if there were any holes before placing the spheres into the crate. To further conceal them, he covered the crate with an old, oil-stained rag. Once that was done, he activated his rocket feet, and flew off back to the ruins.

Damion always felt that the journey home was quicker than the journey to a destination. He assumed it was another one of those 'home is where the heart is' metaphors, but he couldn't bring himself to consider the village his home. He wasn't a people person. When he got back to the ruins, he made a beeline towards a pile of debris located somewhere in the centre of the ruins. He removed the debris to reveal a trapdoor. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then entered the underground tunnels through the trapdoors.

His eyes illuminated in the darkness as he paced through the long abandoned tunnel. It was impossible to tell how long ago it was used: the floor was covered in a thick mat of dust, in which the occasional domes could have been indicative of footprints. But Damion digressed.

He marched on through the tunnel until he reached the end, where a handmade elevator made of wood and glass was hanging by thick ropes, waiting to bring someone up or down. He opened the compartment of the elevator and set the crate down. He pulled a lever of some kind and the lift moved down, further into the underground.

It was moments like this that Damion thought back on what Earth was like before the invasion. It was a place where humans could live in peace, without the constant fear of waking up one day and thinking that today was going to be your last. The humans were once a dominant race, and now they live in ruins, just like the skyscrapers. Damion leaned his head back and sighed. They say the population will recover but he doubted it. It was never that simple.

The lift came to a stop when he reached the very bottom and saw light in a cavern. He opened the compartment and lifted the crate. After kicking the lift closed with his foot, he walked into the cavern.

He was greeted by the familiar site of a vast room; a centric, social sort of area piled high with crates and wares, animal pens and small wooden shelters. It was lit up with various street lamps, reminding Damion of those fish found in the darkest, most deepest depths of the ocean. Scores of people surrounded them, running about their everyday chores as if they had been born underground...and some of them could very well have been. It was no shanty town, neither was it luxurious, but the people here had obviously banded together to make the most of the place they now lived. Most of the generators and machines that bordered the area seemed to be powered by steam, which was caught by devices in the top of the ceiling where it condensed and converted back into water. Beside Damion, there was sign that read 'Under York'.

Damion rolled his eyes at the sign and adjusted his grip on the crate. It may be an underground village, but at least it had the typical things that could be found in most residential areas: plant life, animals, children chasing chickens around them before being told off by their parents. Damion promptly ignored all this as he made his way through the market square(if there was not a better term to describe it).

He took a side route into a smaller tunnel, walking further and further into a quieter area and through a wooden door. Once Damion closed the door behind him the echoing from Under York stopped and the place was bathed in silence, save for the footsteps of people.

One would believe that this wasn't an actual house if they hadn't looked past the door. But Damion knew better. He had been in this house many times for the past two years, ever since he was found by the twins...that was long before Victor-

Damion stopped himself. He shouldn't be thinking about the past, even if it was painful.

"Damion?" A soft-spoken but mature sounding female voice caused Damion to look up at the smooth staircase. A woman about his age was tentatively walking down the stairs, "Are you back already?" She asked.

Eldipa Portokáli was a petite-looking woman, with big, expressive brown eyes that looked at everything with gentleness, but also with a hint of sadness. Her mousy brown hair was tied back in a high ponytail, with the ends grazing the back of her neck. She wore a brown cardigan over a blue tinted dress that ended down to her knees. You can clearly see black leggings under her dress and her feet were enclosed in white laced boots. Wrapped around her neck was a red bandanna and a pendent was dangling from beneath the red fabric. Her pendent was a unique little thing, as it was shaped like a golden star, with the centre containing a vivid, pink jewel. Yes, very unique.

"Yes." Was his blunt reply as he made his way to the living room. It wasn't a very big room, hell it didn't even have any windows, but it still had a homely feel to it. The whole room was lit by a fluorescent ceiling lamp. As Damion set the crate on the coffee table, the woman peeked her head over his shoulder.

She tilted her head, "What's in the crate?"

"Something I found in the wastelands."

Her eyes widened, "You've been to the wastelands? Damion, you know that place is very dangerous. I know you're able to look after yourself, but you still need to be careful. What if you got hurt out there?"

"Well, what did you want me do to?" Damion asked calmly, but with a hint of annoyance, "It was just another day at the ruins until I discovered these things," He lifted the rag-covered crate for Eldipa to see, "Out in the open. I knew you wouldn't like it if I abandoned them, so I brought them here."

Eldipa frowned, "What...?"

"Ellie, I'm home! And I've got news!" A hyper female voice boomed through the house as the sound of the door opening and closing was heard. A spritely looking woman paced into the living room. She had bright, energetic blue eyes that sparkled with excitement. Her strawberry-red hair was slightly shaggy with high bunches and a side fringe. She wore a bright and colourful outfit that seemed to lit up the whole room.

"Hi Damion! Oh, and guess what, Ellie?" She exclaimed.

Eldipa tilted her head, "What is it, Poppy?"

"They're having a special sale over at the market tomorrow." Poppy said in rush, "All half-price on fruit and vegetables. I'm gonna be the first to get to them before everyone else~!"

"Joy..." Damion said without much enthusiasm. Unbelievable. The woman was nearly twenty-four and she still behaved like a giddy schoolgirl over stuff like this. It made him wonder how Eldipa was able to put up with her 24/7.

It was then that Poppy noticed the crate on the coffee table, "Say, what's in the crate?"

"You really wanna know?" Damion asked with a raised eyebrow. Poppy nodded her head eagerly, which was a good enough response for him. He turned to Eldipa, "Is there any other room where we can talk in private."

Eldipa nodded, "There's my brother's old workshop. We can talk there." She led her two friends down into the basement. She unlocked the door and stepped inside, looking at her surroundings with a hint of nostalgia. It has been a long time since this workshop was used. The tools were placed in their corrective shelves, waiting for their master who will never return.

"For a place that always reeks of oil, this room is surprisingly clean. Your doing, I take it?" Damion asked as he set the crate down on the workbench.

"Yes. Victor always had an eye for order." Eldipa explained as she tenderly touched a hammer, "He would've been upset if he found his workshop in disarray." She rubbed her arms, the air around her suddenly growing much colder.

Poppy walked over to them, "So, what do w–AH!" She tripped over a random tool and landed on her face.

Damion rolled his eyes, "Look where you're walking next time, pin-head."

Poppy quickly got to her feet again however and opened the lid to the crate, "Okay, let's see what we have here." She leaned her head to get a closer look, and frowned at what she saw, "Huh? Are these metal balls?"

"You have to see it to believe it." Damion mumbled as Eldipa also looked into the crate, "I found them in the wastelands. Saw them just fall from the sky."

Eldipa picked up the sphere with the cracked optic and turned it around in her hands, "Wow! Other than the dents and the cracked optic, each of these spheres look to be made with great detail and attention. I wonder who made these. They must of had a lot of time on their hands."

"Hmm..." Damion stared at the spheres. Strange. When he was flying back to the ruins, he thought he saw those spheres before. He couldn't remember where though.

"Uhh...that's funny...why are they all marked with serial numbers?" The sound of Poppy's questionable voice brought Damion out of his thoughts.

Eldipa looked up, "What?"

"See, look." Poppy took the sphere from her hands and turned it around, so she was holding it upside down, "See what I mean." She pointed to the barely visible numbers stamped on the sphere; #1098.

Eldipa frowned, "That's peculiar..."

Damion just shrugged indifferently, "No it's not. All machines made by labs have serial numbers."

"Hey, look!" Poppy picked up another one of the spheres from the crate, "This one has the same number as my birthday on it~! October, seventh."

"You're lucky." Eldipa looked over at the other spheres, "I don't think the others have the same birthday numbers as the rest of us."

"I know~!" Poppy said with a wide grin. She then dunked the sphere she was holding into Damion's arms, "By the way, what do you think of these spheres, Damion?"

The young male looked down at the sphere with contempt. Contempt at having to hold the thing, curtesy of Poppy the airhead, "Look like clumps of scrappy metal shit to me." He threw the sphere back at Poppy, who barely caught it in her arms.

"Hey! Don't throw my birthday sphere! We don't want them getting more dents!" Poppy yelled in alarm.

Eldipa shook her head. A typical Damion response. She knew him long enough to know it was his way of saying he didn't care about their presence, whether the others were interested or not.

She ran her thumb over the sphere's cracked optic. That can be easily fixed. And the scorch marks can be cleaned with some warm water and an old toothbrush. The dents, she wasn't so sure of but they were only minor ones, so she shouldn't worry too much about them. Eldipa was surprised that these spheres didn't receive much greater damage if they fell from the sky. They must be made out of really tough metal if they were able to endure such a fall.

Eldipa thought nothing more of it as she got to work on cleaning the spheres, with help from her friends of course.

* * *

_What a find! Today was truly extraordinary._

_Earlier today, Damion came to the house with a big crate. He said he found it in the wastelands, something I found troubling. I know Damion has internal cybernetics and can look after himself, but I still worry about his safety. What if he got hurt? What if **they** tried to kill him like they killed Victor? I tried to talk to him about it, but he wouldn't listen. Damion's really stubborn that way._

_Anyway, back to the find. Damion showed me and Poppy what he found in my brother's workshop. There were four metal spheres in the crate, one of them had a cracked optic but I fixed that. These things weren't even activated, and Poppy is already beginning to bond with one of them. But hey, that's Poppy._

_We spent the rest of the day fixing up the spheres as best we can. After that, we tried to activate them in any way we can, but nothing seems to have worked so far. Something I found odd, because all their circuitry seemed to be functioning well after we peeked into their shells to see if they suffered internal damage._

_So, we decided to call it a day and try again tomorrow. As I lay on my bed, writing in this journal, I can't help but wonder; what are these spheres? Or rather, who are they? What secrets do they hold? Do they perhaps hold the key to my family's-_

* * *

It was later that evening. Damion knocked on Eldipa's door, holding the radio under his arm. He decided to stay in the girls' house for the night, partly in case those spheres activated themselves in the middle of the night.

"Come in." She said that, but Damion just opened the door a tiny bit and peeked his head inside. He saw Eldipa curled up on her bed and writing in her journal. She always did that when she had something on her mind.

"Do you know where the damn antenna for the radio is? I can't find it anywhere." Damion explained.

"It's still in the workshop, remember?" Eldipa replied, "Poppy used it to probe the spheres while we were trying to activate them."

"Great..." Damion muttered. Of course he remembered, how could he not? Trust Poppy to use something as unnecessary as a toothpick when it should be used to listen to some music, "Thanks."

After closing the door, he made his way down into the workshop, where he found the antenna wedged between a hammer and a screwdriver. Damion rolled his eyes and grabbed the antenna. That was when the crate containing the spheres caught his eye. Frowning, he opened the lid and removed each sphere from the crate.

Damion went back to that thought earlier, about the spheres being familiar to him. He didn't know why, but they reminded him of the facility he used to be experimented on. The facility he hoped he would never look upon again. He picked up one of the spheres, the one that had a cracked optic before Eldipa fixed it. He regarded the sphere with a disdainful scowl before dropping it on the workbench and leaving the room with the antenna in hand.

"Why am I getting paranoid? They're just a bunch of stupid metal balls." Damion said to himself as he closed the door, leaving the four spheres in the dark workshop.

Alone and deactivated.


	4. The Reactivation

**Story by AMBC**

**Corrections by Kingdom Lover123123**

Brown eyes flickered open as Eldipa woke up around 8 am. She was an early riser by nature and knew that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again once she woke up. So, she sat up from the bed and did her morning stretches. It was something Eldipa did more out of habit than out of routine, though she has been trying to break said habit lately with some success.

After taking a shower, Eldipa walked downstairs into the kitchen. To her surprise, she found Poppy at the table sorting through some shopping bags. It looks as if for once, the redhead woke up before Eldipa.

"Morning, Poppy."

"Oh, hi, Ellie~! I'm just choosing some bags for the big sale. I'm not sure if you remember, but I talked about it to you and Damion yesterday." Poppy chatted on and on as Eldipa poured some cereal into a bowel. The other woman nodded her head and sat down beside Poppy.

"I remember, but are all those bags really necessary?" Eldipa asked.

"Everything will be on half-price, so you'll never know!" Poppy answered.

Eldipa hummed as she ate her breakfast thoughtfully. Aftef breakfast, Poppy was at the door with her bags in tow, "Alright, I'm off. Do you need anything while I'm out?"

"Well, we're low on fruit," Eldipa said as she wrote down a list for Poppy. She knew her friend was far too scatter-brained to remember things herself, especially at the risk of buying out the whole market, so a list was a must, "Especially apples and oranges. Oh, and do you think you can get some onions while you're there as well? I need them to make dinner later on." She handed Poppy the list, "This list will tell you what to get anyway."

The redhead saluted, "Alrighty then. If Damion asks, tell him where I went." She grabbed her jacket from the coat hanger, "I'll be back in a few hours. Bye~!" She closed the doors behind her.

Eldipa stared at the door for a few seconds before sighing and walking back upstairs. Since she didn't have any plans today, she decided to go back to her room and grade the rest of her students tests before checking on the spheres in the basement/workshop.

Eldipa worked as a science teacher in the local high school. A few days before the weekend, the class had a test on chemistry, and Eldipa was able to grade half of them yesterday before Damion came to the house with the spheres. She sat at her desk where the tests were neatly piled up, waiting to be graded. She took out her trusty red pen and began to finish the task she had started yesterday.

She smiled as she graded the rest of the papers, noting that her students did fairly well on the test. Most of the grades were Bs and Cs with a few odd As now and then. She scribbled down corrections and words of advice beside the grades. It was nice to see her students take an interest in her subject. Science was always Eldipa's favourite subject, even though there were some restrictions on teaching science in Under York. Victor also loved science, especially the inventing aspect of it. Eldipa's smile faltered as she thought about her twin, the brother who lost his life two years ago. And it was going to be the anniversary in a few weeks time as well...

Eldipa shook her head and continued grading the papers, trying to expel the bad memories from her head. She was just about done when she heard a knock on the door, "Yes?" The door opened and Damion peeked his head out, "Oh hi, Damion."

The brunette man merely nodded his head in greeting. He stared at the test papers with a steady gaze, "Have you been grading tests?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah! My students had a test on Friday, and I've been grading their papers. I started it yesterday." Eldipa explained as she placed the graded tests into a folder, "They actually did really well. There were hardly any Ds and Fs. I really think this can help them have a bright future and encourage them to work harder."

"They're lucky." Damion said suddenly.

Eldipa blinked and looked at him, "What?"

"A lot of teachers don't help their students as much as you do." Damion explained, "You help them realise their goals, their potential, something a lot of people don't do these days. That's why they're lucky to have you as a teacher."

Eldipa tilted her head. It was rare for Damion to compliment people, but when he does, his compliments catch people off guard. For some reason however, she felt as if she was expecting Damion to make a compliment. She didn't know why though.

"Thank you, Damion." She said softly after a minute of silence between them, "But I have a feeling that you didn't come in here to say that."

Damion shook his head, "You're right. I was wondering what you wanted to do about those metal tin cans down in the basement."

Eldipa's eyes widened. She had almost forgotten about the spheres Damion found yesterday. The spheres still in the workshop, "Oh, r-right. Well, I was planning on inspecting them again after I've graded the tests. So, I'm now free to check on them. Can you help me bring them upstairs?"

Damion hesitated but reluctantly nodded his head. A few minutes later, he was carrying the crate containing the spheres into the living room with Eldipa walking behind him. Damion looked over his shoulder, "You're only wasting your time. These things are not responding, no matter what we do."

Eldipa sighed, "I know we weren't able to activate them yesterday, but we still have to try. Whoever these spheres are, we need them to speak for themselves. We need to know if they're truly alive. They're not just trash we can throw outside."

Damion stared at the crate, pondering what Eldipa told her. He will never understand the woman's unique view on life, even after two years of being around her. He wouldn't consider Eldipa a friend, of course. No, Damion didn't like to get too close to people. If anything, she was more of a strange science teacher who had a really funny view of humanity. At least it was a good funny view and not a bad one, like he saw in horror movies.

"Whatever you say." He finally said as he placed the crate on the coffee table and removed the spheres from it, "Do you want to try and activate them individually or all at once?"

Eldipa hummed, "Maybe we should try one first," She scooped up the sphere that had the cracked optic in her arms, "If we can try and get at least one of them to activate, then we'll be able to activate the others as well."

Damion waved his hand dismissively, "If you say so," He walked up upstairs, "I'm going to the study. Good luck with activating them."

Eldipa watched him leave until he was out of sight and huffed. So much for his help. She turned her attention back to the sphere in her arms and gently stroked the side of the hull, half-hoping somehow the touch will activate it. It was a lost cause, but still worth a try.

She shook her head and walked into the kitchen, where she placed the sphere onto the table. She spent the next hour or so trying to activate the sphere, looking through all the sphere's circuits and even attaching some wires and twisting it up, using some tools Eldipa had fetched from the basement. Nothing seemed to work and she was getting despondent.

She felt a headache sink in as she gazed into the blank optic of the sphere. She shook her head and sat up. Perhaps some music will relax her a bit. Eldipa walked over to the radio on the counter and fiddled around with it a bit before getting some kind of signal. It was very difficult to get any signal in Under York, since the inhabitants only got a rationed amount of electricity. But it looked as if she was in luck.

The voice emitting from the radio was static at first, but it gradually got clearer, _"...And that was Bad Apple by Christina Vee. This next song is for those of you who need a little pick-me-up."_

It sounded as if Eldipa just missed the last song. Oh well, at least this song was playing in its place. The music was calming and soothing with a country feel to it. It wasn't long until someone began to sing to the music.

_I run from hate~._

_I run from prejudice~,_

_I run from pessimists~._

_But I run too late~._

Eldipa smiled at the sound of the music, feeling more at ease as she listened to the soothing melody.

_I run my life~,_

_Or is it running me~?_

_Run from my past~,_

_I run too fast, or too slow it seems~._

Eldipa rocked to the beat of the song, gently swaying back and forth. The sound of music never ceased to amaze her. It was amazing how people always had time to listen to something like this, even in a very bleak world.

_When lies become the truth~,_

_That's when I run to you~._

It wasn't long until Eldipa found herself singing to the song. She had almost forgotten about the sphere lying on the table at this point, but she didn't really cared. All that mattered was listening to that song.

_This world keeps spinning faster, into a new disaster~,_

_So I run to you, I run to you, baby~._

_And when it all starts coming undone~,_

_Baby, you're the only one I run to~._

_I run to you~._

Unbeknownst to Eldipa, the blank optic on the sphere behind her began to fill with orange glowing texts.

_Voice-code confirmed._

_Scanning files..._

_Scanning complete._

_Initiating reboot. Please stand by..._

The sphere spewed out barely audible gibberish as its optic glowed a vivid blue. After a minute of sitting there and rebooting, the core finally became aware of his surroundings and he screamed, "...Bloody _HELL_! What's going on? Where am I? AHH!"

Eldipa nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a frightened, British accented voice behind her. She gasped and whipped around to find a bright, blue optic staring back at her with clear anxiety. She covered her mouth with her hand. The sphere was alive.

The core swivelled his optic at the woman staring at her with shock on her face. Who was this woman? But right then, he needed help, so he had to be friendly. He raised his lower optical plate as a way of smiling, "'Ello there, luv. Could you help a poor bloke out? I'm not entirely sure what's going on here...I mean, I remember being in space before shutting down." He looked around, "Though, it looks like I'm not in space anymore."

His voice faltered when he saw the woman was still staring at him, a bit of shock still showing in her eyes, but now also a new kind of confusion (and perhaps curiosity) slowly sinking in.

"Are you alright there, luv? Hmm, perhaps, I should've introduced myself first. It would've–it would've been more appropriate than screaming my head off." Eldipa heard the core ramble before turning its—his?—attention back to her, "Forgot to introduce myself. Sorry about that. My name's Wheatley! Nice to meet you!" He said, his optical plates shifting in such a way that Eldipa thought it looked as close as a spherical robot could get to looking like it was smiling.

Again, she could only respond with a confused silence as questions began coming into her baffled mind, _The core is alive! Well, functioning to be more specific, but still the same thing! And he actually has a name! Was this robot programmed to be self-aware?_

"Uh, yeah, ok. Um…" the blue core began again, his expression shifting to show one of being rather creeped out by Eldipa's blank stare. "It's generally considered polite to introduce yourself in return, you know. Not to say that you're being rude! Even though you are kinda being rude right now, but, er, unless you happen to be particularly shy–which maybe you are, I dunno, we only just met–but, if you could at least stop staring at me like that, that would be appreciated."

"Um, sorry..." Eldipa responded as she uncovered her mouth, trying to make her gaze a bit less analysing, "I'm just a bit surprised. My friend found you yesterday, and we've been trying to activate you. So, it came as quite a shock when you started speaking right out of the blue."

The core tilted its hull, "I was deactivated? Wait, now that you mention it, I do recall hearing a voice in my processors before everything got all dark and quiet."

"That must've been the feeling of you deactivating." Eldipa noted.

"Right. Anyway, you mentioned you had a friend who found me. Does that mean there are other humans here...wherever we are? I mean, don't get me wrong. I know humans–well, knew humans–all of them are either...you know, dead or...not my fault by the way! Humans just tend to die a lot." He laughed embarrassedly, "I don't–I don't mean to be offensive, since you're a...well, you don't need me to tell you. Again, I don't mean to be offensive. Anyway, the humans I knew are all dead now or..." He paused, "...or something else."

Eldipa frowned. The core sounded sad, mournful even as he said that, the complete opposite of his cheerful voice. It was as if he had done something very wrong, something he regretted terribly.

The core coughed and swivelled his optic around the kitchen, trying to ease the awkward silence, "So um...I noticed that my optic looks different. I'm not seeing everything all broken mirrorish anymore."

Broken mirrorish? It took Eldipa two seconds to decipher what the blue core was talking about, "Oh, that. You had a cracked optic when my friend found you. I replaced it with a new one."

"Oh," He rolled his optic around in his shell just to get the feel of it, "Ah, I see, a new and improved optic! Oh yes, much better than seeing everything through a crack! Thanks very much, luv!"

The brunette woman giggled and gently scooped the core up in her arms, "I've never met robots before personally, but you're the first one I know who has self-awareness. What did you say your name was again?"

"Oh, my name's Wheatley!" He said cheerfully, the awkwardness from before seeming to be forgotten for the moment, "The scientist who first activated me gave me that name. And seeing as how you're definitely not one of the shy types, what is your name?"

"My name is Eldipa Portokáli, but you can call me Eldipa or Ellie. Either would do."

"Ooooh! That's a fancy name!" The blue core—Wheatley—replied cheerfully, "Very nice name. Real Latin name. Very…you, somehow I'm sure."

Eldipa smiled a little, "It's Greek actually," She corrected him, "My grandmother was from Athens before moving to America."

"Did I say Latin? I meant Greek! Real Greek name! Yes, the Greeks are the real fancy blokes, with their names, and Gods, and salads, and...yoghurts..."

Eldipa tilted her head. Wheatley was a strange little core. A strange but sweet core. There was also something about him that made Wheatley behave like a human, but Eldipa didn't know what it was. There was something there, but what?

The blue-eyed core shifted in her arms, "Um, yeah I just–I just remembered something. You said your friend found me yesterday when I was deactivated. Well...did that very same friend happened to stumble upon three other cores who look like me? You know, round and metal like me, only with a yellow optic, a green optic and a pink optic? Plus, one of them talks about space...a lot. It's okay if you say no, since your friend may not have found them at all."

Eldipa's smile widened a bit. As a matter of fact, Damion _did_ find those three cores alongside Wheatley. All she needed to do was do the thing she did to activate Wheatley, though she didn't know how to do it. She was certain it had something to do with the radio, since the core wouldn't activate for her before she turned it on.

But before the woman could answer the blue-eyed core's question, they both heard a banging sound and a crash.

* * *

"I'm hoooome~!" Poppy sang as she closed the door behind her with her left foot, since both her hands were gripping half a dozen grocery bags, "I got just what was on the list, Ellie! And I didn't overdo it!" She looked down at the grocery bags, "Okay, maybe I overdid it a little..."

She strolled into the living room and noticed two of the four spheres Damion found yesterday. Poppy sighed sadly. Those spheres would've made great fruit bowels if Eldipa wasn't so keen on activating them.

"We really need a fruit ball," Poppy said aloud as she turned her back on the spheres, "I mean, where else are we gonna put all those bananas and oranges and kiwis? Oh, and the apples! I mustn't forget about the apples! No, the apples are important fruit too."

In her conversation with herself, Poppy failed to notice that behind her the two spheres on the coffee table were going through the same reboot as Wheatley upon hearing the voice-code. Their optic illumination came back in their optics as their voice processors spewed out gibberish.

"I'm not being picky, but I honestly think we need a fruit bowel," Poppy continued her mini-tirade as she spun around, "A fruit bowel is very important if we wanna keep all...this...fruit..."

Poppy blinked once. Then twice. Hell, even a third time at what she saw. Two cores, with their optics illuminating, were staring back at her. One had a slightly crazed yellow optic, the other had a stoic pink optic. Poppy stared at the two cores, her body completely rigid. Neither human nor core moved an inch. They just stared at each other, almost daring to make a move. One of them did eventually, and it wasn't Poppy.

"Space?"

"Fact: Hernia is received by carrying heavy loads."

And then came the domino effect.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Damion was in the study room moving books around on a bookcase when he heard Poppy scream. He yelped and fell on the floor, sending a few books toppling down on him. It wasn't long until the entire bookcase also fell on top of the brunette male. Damion growled in annoyance as he lifted the bookcase off of him with ease, "I'm gonna fucking kill her."

* * *

"ALL RIGHT, YOU ASKED FOR IT, BUB!"

Eldipa winced a bit at the very loud noise. Even though Poppy had been living with her for four years now, she still couldn't get used to how frightening she sounded when she was angry. Wheatley swivelled his optic around, or attempted to, "Say, luv, could you–could you turn me around so I'm not facing you? It's nothing personal, nope, absolutely no intention of hurting your feelings. I just want to know where that noise is coming from."

"Well, by the sound of it, I think my housemate got to your companions first." Eldipa said quietly as she sprinted out of the kitchen.

"A housemate? What's that? Is that another name for your friend? You know, the one who found me deactivated...and possibly the three other cores who look like me. Is that another term for friend? Housemate? To–to be honest, I haven't heard that word before. Not at all." Wheatley rambled as the pair made their way into the living room.

When they got their, they were greeted by a rather amusing sight. There were groceries scattered across the floor, as if someone had unceremoniously placed them there. Poppy was shaking one of the cores violently in her hands, glaring daggers and screaming at it while the other core was yelling something about space.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO FUCK WITH ME, MR?!" Poppy demanded as she continued to shake the pink-eyed core, "CAUSE I GOT YOUR ASS RIGHT HERE!"

"The Fact Core does not have an 'ass'." The core in her hands said, "The Fact Core is getting woozy."

Eldipa had to admit this would be a pretty humorous scene if Poppy wasn't so angry. It wasn't long until Damion stomped downstairs and into the living room with a scornful look on his face. To Eldipa, that was never a good sign. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Poppy shaking the core.

"What the hell is the problem?" Damion asked. He sounded calm, but Eldipa thought she heard a tinge of anger in his voice.

Poppy stopped shaking the core long enough to whirl around at Damion, "You wanna know what the problem is?" She shoved the core into his face, "_This_ is the problem!"

"Fact: Grey eyes occur from a pigment mutation in the fingernails." The Fact Core stated.

"Oh look, the scrappy metal balls can talk. Wonderful." Damion said unenthusiastically.

Eldipa walked towards her friends, "It's okay, you guys. They're not dangerous, they're just confused about their current surroundings." The pair looked at her, then at the blue-eyed core in her arms.

"'Ello there! I'm Wheatley!" He said cheerfully.

The yellow-eyed core swivelled his optic at Wheatley, "Space Buddy!"

"Hey, my birthday sphere is alive!" Poppy smiled, apparently forgetting about her anger towards the Fact Core. The two women placed the cores on the coffee table beside the Space Core.

"Oh, so this is your house then?" Wheatley asked, "It's a very nice home, a very...homely home."

Eldipa tilted her head and smiled. So, the spheres were active and well. She wasn't sure how they accomplished it, but they did it. She didn't think it was possible but this was technology they were dealing with here. And very advanced technology at that.

Poppy then gasped, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"

"Oh, brother." Damion muttered. He and Eldipa knew Poppy was having another moment with her head in the clouds.

"Do you guys have any idea what we've found?" Poppy gestured to the cores, "Who knows what planet they could be from! They could be from Mars or Pluto! This could be a revolution, I tell ya! A REVOLUTION-OW!" By this point, Damion had enough. He walked over and smacked Poppy on the back of her head. The redhead yelped and rubbed her head, glaring at the male brunette, "Dammit, Damion, what was that for?!"

"Firstly, you're an idiot. Secondly, there's no _we_. _I_ alone found them. And thirdly, they're not from any other planet, they're from here. Kapeesh?" Damion spat each word at Poppy. Eldipa could tell he was clearly annoyed by Poppy's out of this world moment.

"Okay, okay. Sheesh, you didn't have to be so rough."

"Oh, so you're the bloke who found us," Damion turned his attention to Wheatley with a raised eyebrow, "Yes, Eldipa told me about you. She said her friend—that's you, I'm sure—found us battered and deactivated out in the open, and that same friend took us here yesterday. Honestly, I sort of imagined you to be a bit taller. No offence, by the way. Absolutely no offence!"

"Fact: The Intelligence Dampening Core talks too much."

"I'm not a moron!"

Damion slowly turned his head towards Eldipa, who just smiled and shrugged, "I never said battered."

He just scoffed and rolled his eyes. That was another thing he'll never understand about Eldipa; why did she insist on calling him her friend when he preferred not to have any friends at all? He had made it perfectly clear to her on more than one occasion.

"So, then," Wheatley started out, breaking the awkward tension, "How about them names, eh? Erm, wait, wait, wait, wrong way to start this out. Let's have a do-over, shall we? Alright?" He got no response, "...Alright. My name's Wheatley. The core with the yellow optic is the Space Core."

"That's me! Space! Space Core! Space Core! The Space Core! SPAAAACE!" The yellow core yelled happily.

Damion flinched, "I think I've found the one thing more annoying than Poppy."

"Space! So much space! Wanna go back, wanna go back, wanna go back!"

"Fact: Cores that still insist on going into space, even after actually going there only to arrive back down to Earth, are inferior to cores that don't." The Fact Core said.

"The core with the pink optic is the Fact Core. I think–I think they're both corrupt, I'm not sure."

"The Fact Core is not corrupt. It's a good core whose facts are wholly accurate and very interesting."

"I think we got something here." Poppy chirped to her friends. She approached the cores and gripped on Wheatley's upper handle, in a fashion similar to shaking someone else's hand, "Hi there! My name is Poppy~! P-O-P-P-Y."

"Ooh, Poppy. Like the flower." Wheatley said.

"That's right." Poppy said, smiling.

"Fact: In most cultures, poppies are associated with death."

"I wasn't talking to you!" Poppy snapped at the Fact Core before once again smiling sweetly at Wheatley, "Anyway, this talented young woman beside me is my friend and housemate, Eldipa." She gestured at the other woman, then at Damion, "And this 'charming' young man standing here is Damion, our other friend."

"Really?" Damion scoffed.

Wheatley silently looked at the three humans. Given his rather limited interaction with humans, apart from the test subject lady he tried to help, and his engineers, he wasn't entirely sure who he should stay close to the most. Poppy frightened him a bit, despite her sunny demeanour, and Damion looked like the sort of human who wouldn't talk to the cores much, just like the lady from the facility. He concluded that Eldipa looked to be the most normal out of the three humans, so he'll lean on her. Maybe she can be trusted in helping him with...

"Say, isn't there supposed to be four of them?" Poppy wondered aloud.

"What do you mean?" Eldipa asked her.

"When Damion found them, there were four spheres in the crate. Now, I only see three of them." She let out a sigh, "Boy, math sure is confusing. But seriously though, where is-"

As if one cue, a fourth core with a strange, pixelated green optic and a rectangular pupil landed on Poppy's head, "Target locked! I got the enemy neutralised!"

Poppy's left eye twitched before she did what anyone would do in this situation.

She screamed.

"AHHHHHH! OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!" Poppy shrieked as she ran around the living room in a panic, with the green-eyed core still on her head.

"Oh dear...em, Poppy! Poppy, calm down! It–he's not going to hurt you!" Eldipa called out. Damion buried his face in his hand and let out an annoyed growl. Why was he surrounded by idiots?

"The core who landed on that human female's head is the Adventure Core," The Fact Core explained, "He is a blowhard and a coward."

"Try telling that to someone who actually cares, Pinky." Damion grumbled as he felt a headache settling in. He needed to help Eldipa calm Poppy down before the stupid airhead broke something.

"DAMION!" He heard Poppy scream, "DAMION! DAMION! DAMION!"

"What is it, now-" He had only registered too late that Poppy was blindly making a beeline towards him. She collided with him, sending the two of them toppling onto the floor.

Eldipa gasped, "Oh my God, are you two okay?!" She asked with concern at the tangled mess in front of her.

"I think I broke my spleen..." Poppy said weakly.

Damion who was underneath the redhead said nothing as he rested his chin on his hand and tapped the floorboards with his fingers. He eyed the core rolling off of Poppy and landing in front of him, "Whoo! Now that was a rush! No one can win a fight against Rick the Adventure Core." Damion, however, was not amused. A growl erupted in his throat as he grabbed the green core tightly in his hand. He could hear the circuits creaking inside the thing.

"Oh, hey, I don't mean to be fussy, but you're kinda holding me a bit too tight there." The green-eyed core said, but Damion didn't really care at this point.

He looked up at Eldipa and was just about to ask her why he shouldn't rip the stupid core apart when he froze. There were pros and cons to being an internal cyborg. One of those pros was that Damion could hear things from miles away. And right now, his enhanced hearing had just picked up something not far from here, "Dammit." He pushed Poppy off of him, ignoring her protesting, and quickly stood up.

"Put the talking balls away now." Damion said to Eldipa as he handed her the Adventure Core.

The green core swivelled his optic up at her, "Hey there, gorgeous. Don't think I've seen you around before."

Eldipa, ignoring the core's rather flirtatious comments, blinked at Damion, "Why? what's-"

"There's someone approaching the house."

**And we end with a cliffhanger!**

**I know some of you have mixed feelings about OCs, but mine are very important in the story. Some of them, mainly Eldipa and Damion, play a key role in future events, as well as giving the more minor characters of Portal some development. I'm trying my very best not to make them Mary-Sus.**

**If you guys don't know what the voice-code to reactivating the cores was at this point, then you've never played Portal 2.**

**And you'll notice(or not) that there is a connection starting to show between Eldipa and Wheatley(this isn't a Wheatley/OC fic by the way, just to clear up any future misunderstandings), even before the cores were reactivated. The same is happening with Poppy and the Space Core, since his serial number is the same as her birthday. This chapter also marks the beginning of the Fact Core's...rocky relationship with Poppy. Don't worry, it'll all make sense in future chapters. *Wink***

**Also, the song Eldipa hears on the radio is I Run to You by Lady Antebellum. God, I love their songs.**

**I have an account on DeviantArt, and I'm hoping to upload profiles of my OCs on it soon.**

**That's all for now, and remember to rate and review the story.**


	5. The Unwanted Visitor

Damion's warning was enough to put everyone present on guard, minus the cores of course. Poppy's eyes widened and she shot up from the floor, "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"

"Will you cut it out?!" Damion snapped at the redhead as he helped Eldipa place the cores back into the crate, ignoring their confused protests. He was stressed enough as it is, and the stupid talking cores, plus Poppy's exaggerated panicking weren't helping matters. In fact, he was almost certain he would develop a week-long migraine.

"Take the spheres upstairs." Eldipa instructed Damion before turning her attention to the cores, "I'll explain everything you need to know, I promise. But right now, you need to hide."

Wheatley tilted his hull, "Hide? But why? Did we do something wrong?"

"Don't ask us, ask _them_." Damion replied bitterly.

Just then, everyone heard the doorbell ring, "Portokáli, are you in there?" A stern, female voice said from outside the house, "Open this door at once."

Damion swore something colourful. Of all the people who could've shown up at the doorstep, it had to be _that_ person. That councilwoman who was always looking for ways to make their lives miserable.

"Oh no, it's her..." Eldipa whispered, looking very terrified now, "It's Mrs. Chalmes." She ushered Damion to go upstairs immediately before she turned her attention to the door, "I'm c-coming!"

Damion didn't need to be told twice. He readjusted his hold on the crate and sprinted upstairs with Poppy right at his heels. While they were going up, Wheatley thought it would be appropriate to ask about the unwanted visitor, "Who's Mrs. Chalmes? Is she another one of Eldipa's friends? What was that other term she used?...Ah, that's it! Housemate! Is she another housemate?"

Damion gave the blue core an odd look before replying, "Hardly. If anything, she's more like a tumour that never goes away. She's the type of person who attempts to suck the joy out of you."

"Oh, that doesn't sound very nice. She sort of reminds me of Her," Damion raised an eyebrow. He thought he saw Wheatley's hull shudder, "Oh God, I hope this Mrs. Chalmes bloke isn't an android version of Her! I don't have very fond memories of Her. I swear, the things Personality Cores go through these days..." Damion just let Wheatley ramble on as he made a beeline into one of the upstairs rooms. He'll try to shut the core's pie-hole _after_ he found a good hiding spot for them.

When she was certain that Damion and Poppy were upstairs and out of sight, Eldipa stiffly walked to the door and opened it.

She was greeted by the sight of a slightly plump woman on her late forties, with fading blonde hair tied in a high bun, waiting impatiently to be let in. She had beady, blue eyes that looked down upon Eldipa with contempt. Eldipa knew Mrs. Chalmes was a member of the Under York Council, one of the more higher-up citizens who everyone treated with great respect. The wrath she carried was so cold and cruel, no one dared to ever get in her bad book, ever. And now, that wrath was aimed at Eldipa. This could not be good.

"Hello, Mrs. Chalmes, it's nice to see you." Eldipa said as pleasantly as she could, trying her absolute best to not feel intimidated by that scornful stare.

"Hmm..." Mrs. Chalmes lightly pushed Eldipa aside as she entered the house without even waiting for her permission to enter, "I wish I could say the same thing to you."

The two women made their way into the kitchen in strained silence. Eldipa leaned her back against the counter with her jaw clenched tightly as Mrs. Chalmes sat down at the table. She knew she was in deep trouble if this councilwoman was in her house. But she couldn't think of anything that she did wrong. Unless...!

"Um, can I get you something to drink?" Eldipa asked quickly, trying to ease the icy tension and attempting to get the sudden feeling of dread out of her mind, "Tea? Coffee?"

"No, I prefer to get this over and done with as quickly as possible." Mrs. Chalmes said rather curtly. Eldipa could only nod in response. 'As quickly as possible' was never good. Not at all.

The two women suddenly heard scuffling from right above them. Eldipa looked up nervously. What were they doing up there? Mrs. Chalmes too looked up and gave the brunette a questioning look, "Oh, that's just Poppy moving some furniture around. She does that a lot..." Eldipa lied weakly, "You know my housemate, Poppy, right?"

"Ah, yes. Poppy Wiltson, the shrill, idiot girl with the anger issues." Mrs. Chalmes said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Eldipa pursed her lips, "Well, I wouldn't call her an idiot. She's just really scatter-brained. And temper aside, she's a really nice person once you get to know her." She clamped her mouth shut when she saw the look Mrs. Chalmes was giving her. Instead, she gingerly picked up a tin of cookies, "You sure you don't want any treats?" She smiled weakly.

* * *

"Is this space? Wanna go back, wanna go back!

"I know you do, mate. We all know."

"Fact: Space does not exist. Fact: Anyone who enlightens the cores will earn the allegiance of the Fact Core."

"For God's sake, would you all just _shut up?!_" Damion practically hissed at the cores as he tried to find a good hiding spot for them. First, he placed the crate on the window sill and pulled the curtains over them. He looked at Poppy who shook her head. For once, Damion agreed with her. That was not a good hiding place.

Poppy looked at the entrance longingly, her eyes filled with concern, "I hope Ellie's okay..."

"Ya know, if your smoking hot girlfriend is in any trouble, I can help you defend her." The green-eyed core—the one who called himself Rick—said to Damion, "You may not realise it, but I'm an Adventure Core, designed for danger and awsomeness."

Damion scowled at him, 'One, she is not my girlfriend and two, if you keep quiet, you'll have a less likely chance of having a fist-shaped hole in your hull." Despite his threats, Damion knew Rick had a point. While Eldipa wasn't in any real danger, phisical or otherwise, Mrs. Chalmes tended to say things that stick, and not in a good way. He looked at the green-eyed core. Because he lacked arms and legs, it looked at if he wouldn't do much except yell threats at Mrs. Chalmes. Still, the thought of Damion throwing the core into her ugly mug was very tempting. Very tempting indeed...

"Dammit, quit daydreaming, Damion!" Poppy yelled as she took the crate off the window sill and attempted to hide it under the bed, "And people say I'm the one with my head in the clouds."

_They were bound to be right about something. _Damion said as he watched Poppy's feeble attempts at wedging the crate into the gap between the bed and the floor. The gap was much smaller than the crate, and even if they removed the cores and attempted to squeeze them in, it would still be a lost cause.

"Fact: The human female is doing it all wrong," The Fact Core said in that monotone voice of his, "The gap is too small. No crate and core can fit through there."

"You know, you're really starting to get on my nerves!" Poppy yelled at him.

"Join the club." Damion muttered, though it was more directed at all four cores, not just one. With an annoyed sigh, he grabbed the crate from Poppy and went with the third option they should have went with minutes ago; hide the cores in the closet.

"Alright look, if this is about the comment I made about humans being smelly, it wasn't intentional. It just sort of slipped out." Wheatley said quickly as Damion placed the crate inside the closet, "If it–if it helps, not all humans are smelly. Some of them actually smell really lovely...of course, I wouldn't know since I don't have a nose-"

"Look, just keep quiet until Chalmes goes away." Damion said to the cores, "Unless you want to be turned into broken parts, I suggest you stay quiet." That seemed to shut Wheatley up.

The Space Core was a different story however, "Is this space?"

"Sure, why not." Damion said sarcastically, "The shirts are the stars and the underpants are the comets." He paused to let the Space Core make an excited squeal, "And If you like, you can pretend to be a planet as well. They're from space and are really quiet." The yellow-eyed core seemed happy with this idea and fell instantly silent, much to Damion's relief.

"Thank you..." He then walked out of the room. Before he did however, he looked over his shoulder at Poppy, "Stay with the talking balls. Keep an eye on them, and make sure they don't say anything." Poppy crossed her arms and frowned at Damion. She looked as if she wanted to protest but held her tongue. Frankly, Damion didn't care as he made his way downstairs.

* * *

"Alright, Portokáli, because I don't like staying in this home of yours for too long, I'll get right to the point," Mrs. Chalmes said in a authoritive-like manner as she cast a firm gaze upon Eldipa, "What did your cyborg friend bring into the village?"

Eldipa felt her breath hitched. It looked like her worst suspicions were confirmed, "What do you mean?" She asked as innocently as possible, trying to not let her panic get the better of her.

Mrs. Chalmes narrowed her eyes at her, "If you must know, a few of the locals saw that wayward brat walking around with a crate under his arm. A crate that obviously came from the surface," She leaned forward in her chair, right towards Eldipa, "Are you aware of the penalties imposed upon those for bringing surface objects to Under York, Portokáli?"

Eldipa squirmed in her seat, "I...I am. But if it helps, there wasn't anything in the crate." It was a weak lie, she knew, but it was better than nothing, "Damion only brought it here, so I can put items I don't need anymore in there. There is absolutely nothing harmless about that."

Mrs. Chalmes looked at her suspiciously, "Is that the honest truth?" Eldipa nodded. The older woman leaned back, but she was far from being satisfied with the brunette's explanation, "In spite of your story, I still find that brat wondering around with a crate very suspicious. Especially if it's a brat fused with..._technology_." That last word was oozed with contempt.

Eldipa nodded meekly and looked away from Mrs. Chalmes, "I...I know that..." She also knew what was coming next. Instantly, she felt a very disturbed, anxious tremor slip down her back.

"I have told you this before, and I will say it again; that boy has always been a bad egg, ever since you and your air-headed dead twin found him." Eldipa felt her hand tighten into fists under the table. She was talking about Victor in a bad light. No, she couldn't get angry now. If she got angry, it could lead to serious consequences, "As you know, there is a restriction on technology in Under York, which brings us to answer this question; Can the cyborg still be aloud to visit this village?"

Eldipa looked up at Mrs. Chalmes with disbelief in her brown eyes, "Mrs. Chalmes, that's a very unfair question. It's like deciding whether we should let an innocent bystander fall victim to a Combine Advisor."

"Well, that person has a right to get out of the way."

"But not a right to live," Eldipa countered, "And don't forget, Victor and I won the right to let Damion visit Under York as he pleases. The council even approved of that notion."

"And the council can disprove it just as easily if you're not careful." Mrs. Chalmes glared at Eldipa and crossed her arms under her chest, the icy aura that always seemed to surround her flaring up brightly, "Do you really want that to happen?

Eldipa looked down again. In truth, she didn't want something like that to happen and she knew she had to be really careful around Mrs. Chalmes now. The older woman can be very persuasive. It was at that moment that footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, instantly silencing the subtle threats Mrs. Chalmes had been hammering into Eldipa. Damion entered the kitchen and glanced over at the mousy brunette before shrugging nonchalantly and silently walking over to the far corner of the room. Eldipa blinked in surprise. When he glanced over at her, Eldipa thought she saw concern in his grey eyes. Concern for her. That has never happened before.

Mrs. Chalmes glared at him and focused her icy aura on him instead, letting Eldipa release a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding and lifting stress off of her shoulders.

"Damion," She said slowly, "We were just talking about you. I have just informed Miss Portokáli that you brought a surface object into Under York. There are penalties for such a careless-"

"Save me the lecture, you old hag." Damion muttered with a soft yawn, casually leaning his back against the counter. Eldipa inwardly groaned and shook her head. Even though he was facing someone who would most likely convince the council to ban him from Under York, he still managed to keep up the careless, confident attitude that often got him in trouble. This confrontation with Mrs. Chalmes was a good example.

"Excuse me, Damion," Mrs. Chalmes growled, scowling at the young man, "But while you may not be an official resident of Under York, you are still expected to follow the rules and regulations like everybody else. As a member of the Under York Council, you are to listen to what I say, and do what I tell you to do, so long as you are in this village. Do I make myself clear?"

Damion shrugged, "Whatever you say. When you have something worth hearing, I'll start listening."

Eldipa made a frightened squeak and her eyes filled to the brim of shock and horror. Did Damion seriously just say that? Mrs. Chalmes glared at him and abruptly stood up, huffing in annoyance, clearly displeased and giving up on the endeavour completely.

"We'll have to discuss the issue of your wayward, half-robotic friend at another date, Portokáli." She said as she made her way towards the way she came in, Eldipa trailing behind. The younger woman opened the door for the councilwoman. Before leaving, Mrs. Chalmes rounded on Eldipa, "But that doesn't mean you and your friends are out of the woods yet. I'm warning you now, Portokáli, anymore funny business, any at all, and there will be consequences. Legal consequences."

"Yes, I understand, Mrs. Chalmes. I promise you, it won't happen again." Eldipa watched the woman leave before quickly closing the door. She leaned her head forward on the smooth wood and took a few shaky breaths.

"Sounds like another day with the joy-sucker." Damion said as he walked into the hallway.

Eldipa looked up at Damion with an incredulous expression, "Damion, we're officially on probation. We need to be more careful now that Mrs. Chalmes might be on to us. You're already in her bad books, you don't want to face the wrath of the entire council."

"Yeah, well, I don't really care." Damion replied, "I never planned on staying here forever, you know."

Eldipa looked down. As much as it pained her to admit it, Damion was right. He was like a caged bird who wanted his freedom. He wanted to find his place in this world. Sighing, she decided to change the subject, "Come on. We should probably go check on the cores. Where are they anyway?"

"I left them with the pin-head." Damion replied as they made their way upstairs.

"Do you really trust Poppy to look after something that could possibly contain Artificial Intelligence?"

"No, but I do trust the talking balls to look after her."

* * *

When they reached the room where Damion hid the cores, the pair found Poppy also hiding in the closet with the spherical robots. Poppy looked up and beamed at them, "Damion, Ellie, you guys are okay~! Boy, you really had us worried there..." She was cradling the Space Core who, for some strange reason, was emitting a mechanical purring sound.

"Apart from the threats and being on probation, we're still in one piece. Lucky us." Damion said without much emotion.

Wheatley looked up and his optic brightened when he saw the pair, "Oh, Eldipa, there you are! You really gave us a real fright back there, with the sudden urge to hide us and all. Oh, and Poppy here was just telling us about this whole underground village! It's brilliant! Just brilliant! I can't get over it!" He flexed his handles enthusiastically.

"Well, yes. Under York is an underground village." Eldipa said as she knelt down in front of the cores, "This is the place people rebelling against the Combine created to escape the invasion during the Seven Hours War."

"Under York? Is that what this place is called? Oh, right, of _course_ it's called Under York because it's a village underground. Oh, that's cleaver, that's very cleaver," Wheatley's optical plates formed into a smile, "That's what I like most about you humans! You're so creative when it comes to name picking."

"The chances of humans surviving underground are 25%." The Fact Core stated.

"So you say, and yet they've been living underground for twenty-two years." Damion muttered.

"So, um, are there any other humans here?" Wheatley asked, "I mean besides you and your housemates."

Eldipa smiled sadly, "Yes, but there are a few things I need to explain. The only friends you and the others will find in this village are the ones in this house. A lot of people here don't trust technology."

Wheatley blinked, "Really? Why?"

"Too many bad memories. Technology reminds them of the Combine."

"Well, that's a load of crap!" Rick exclaimed though it was perfectly obvious he had no clue what Eldipa meant by that, "I mean, you use technology for cooking, cleaning and other useful stuff!"

"I know, but technology is also the reason why our planet was invaded. At least that's what the elders say. There are restrictions in Under York, and I'm on probation as of now.' Eldipa explained gently, "That's why you guys need to lay low and not let anyone else know of your presence."

"Kinda hard to do when their movement is limited," Damion said. He then turned his attention to the purring Space Core in Poppy's arms, "...What the fuck is that thing doing?"

"Wanna go back! Wanna go back to space!" Poppy giggled as the Space Core's optic sprung up to look at Poppy and the purring started again.

"What's so special about space?" Poppy cooed at the core.

"Space..." The Space Core said lazily, affectionately, although his affection seemed to be more directed at Poppy.

Eldipa smiled at the rather cute moment. Damion called her an airhead and Mrs. Chalmes called her shrill. But to Eldipa, Poppy truly was a good person. A loyal friend who would always stand beside you, no matter what.

Poppy hummed, "I know you said these cores are from here, Damion, but they still look pretty sci-fi to me."

"Hey, sweetcheeks, how about giving ol' Rick a cuddle?"

"Fact: Humans who treat cores as children are delusional."

That was enough to set Poppy off. Two seconds later, the Adventure and Fact Cores found themselves thrown across the room, right into the cream-coloured wall. Poppy then stomped out of the room with the Space Core under her arm, grumbling under her breath. Eldipa and Wheatley looked absolutely frightened while Damion looked amused.

"Okay, that...that was terrifying." Wheatley said, his hull shaking a bit from fear, "That was bloody scary. Um, yeah, it's probably best if I don't make Poppy angry. If I do that, then I'll have a less likely chance of being thrown into a wall, like those poor blokes over there."

"You're probably right." Eldipa whispered. She stared at the two cores wedged into the wall, "Um, are you two okay?"

"That babe has a lot of fire in her! I like it!" Rick said enthusiastically. Well, that answered her question, though she wasn't sure about the other one.

"12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12..." She heard the Fact Core mumble over and over again. It was as if he was in some kind of trance.

"H-hey, Rick? Is he okay?"

"Hm? Oh, he's fine. It's just a bit of core corruption." Rick swivelled his optic at the somewhat dazed pink-eyed core, "Had some damage to the hull when we were first turned on, before we were thrown into the bin. Ain't easy to get a straight answer out of him about it...or anything else, come to think of it."

Eldipa slowly nodded her head.

* * *

After about three hours of trying to pull the two cores out of the wall, Damion and Eldipa moved the cores into the study, where it will act as their temporary little room.

"I know this place isn't exactly science savvy, but it's the best we've got." Eldipa said to Wheatley. It was later that evening and the cores, minus Wheatley, were in sleep mode. The only core absent from the study was the Space Core, who was sleeping in Poppy's room.

"Oh no, this is perfectly fine. It's a very cozy little room." Wheatley whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping cores up. The brunette was kind, he knew that. He had been considering asking her for assistance in his mission, but after everything she had done for him and the others, Wheatley was beginning to wonder if he was asking too much of her.

"You're troubled by something, aren't you?" Eldipa asked.

Wheatley jumped, "H-how did you-?"

"You have a very expressive optic for an AI, a bit like me." Eldipa sat down in front of him, "I know you have something on your mind, but you're too conflicted to tell anyone. Maybe if you tell it to me, I might be able to help."

"You don't have to do that. I mean, you've already done so much for us already..."

Eldipa smiled a little, "Try me."

Wheatley swivelled his optic down. He wasn't sure about telling this human about his mission, and more importantly, he didn't want to get her involved. But then again, he might have more help if he told her...

He made a sound resembling a sigh before saying, "All right, I'll tell you. But it's okay if you say no! I'm not–I'm not forcing you into doing something you don't want to do, especially after what I'm about to tell you!" He added quickly before continuing, "Right, well, there's this...other female human who I need to find. She was a very talented human. She was good at jumping. And solving puzzles. And creating portals." He said, thinking of all the good memories of the test subject lady until he became mad with power, "So, yes, she was really cleaver, that human. Pretty too, now that I think about it, even if her appearance was terrible."

Eldipa tilted her head. Odd, she had never heard of a robot who called a human pretty. Just how much self-awareness did Wheatley have?

On his first day of being here, Wheatley noticed that she did a lot of head tilting and was beginning to think it was her way of saying 'I'm thinking things over'. He ignored it however and continued on with his story, "We were a good team, the two of us. Trying to escape Her facility and live life on the surface." His handles drooped when all the negative memories overtook the positives, "But then...then I hurt her, badly, and I never got a chance to say I'm sorry. When I was up there in space, I told myself that if I ever saw that human again, I would apologise for being so bossy and monstrous. And that's it. That's my story. And now that I'm back from space, I need to find her, so I can apologise."

"I see..." Eldipa said. She felt that Wheatley left out a lot of other information, but she didn't push him into telling her about it. He was in no fit state to talk about it anyway, "What did the other woman look like? Do you remember?"

"Oh, well, let's see..." Wheatley closed his optic and concentrated, trying to remember what the test subject lady looked like, "Okay, well, she was a bit on the short side, I think, wearing nothing but a white tank top and an orange jumpsuit. She had dark-brown hair with a few odd grey streaks, light-brown skin and grey-bluish eyes. She was also quiet. Very, very quiet. When I tried to get her to say 'apple' all she did was jump. It was mad, really. Oh, and there's a possibility that she might have brain-damage."

Eldipa nodded slowly. She wasn't so sure about that last part, not after what Wheatley had told her before describing his mystery friend, "What about her name? Did you by any chance get her name?"

Wheatley paused. He had actually seen the lady's name on one of those science projects back in the Employee Daycare Centre, but never actually said it out loud. Well, perhaps now would be a good time to say it.

"Chell," He said quietly, "Her name was Chell."

Eldipa stared at him before nodding her head, "Well, there isn't one person in Under York with the name 'Chell', but I'll try to help you find her. You can count on that." She patted the top of Wheatley's hull and said gently, "Ευχάριστο όνειρα, Wheatley." She then stood up and walked out of the study.

Wheatley blinked, "What was–what was that? Was that Greek just now? Were you speaking in Greek? It's...it's really good, but it wouldn't hurt to translate for me. I was built with a flashlight, but I wasn't built with a translator." He waited to see if Eldipa would respond. There was none, "Hmm, no reply. She must of gone off to bed. I should probably engage sleep mode as well," Before that, however, he glanced over at the opened doorway and murmured, "Good night, luv, and thank you. You're a saint, you really are."


	6. The Life Cycle

__I am unequivocally delighted to be able to write this journal, and for many reasons. The spheres were activated yesterday and are fully functioning, _though it was touch and go for a brief time.___

___Mrs. Chalmes was at my house that same day the spheres were activated, or Personality Cores as they are called. She made it very clear to me that my friends and I are put on probation because of Damion bringing the cores to Under York. I fear that protecting the cores from the community will prove very challenging.___

___Personal fears aside however, I find the cores to be very intriguing. One reason is because there seemed to be this inexplicable degree of personality to each of them. I figured that out through my conversation with Wheatley last night, when he told about finding and apologising to his human friend. He seemed to be the most human out of the four cores Damion found, but that remains to be seen for now. Either way, there is something about those little cores that leave me dumbfounded. Something I can't quite put my finger on.___

___There is something in those cores that give them self-awareness, and I'm determined to find out what.___

___But first, I have to give something to Damion...___

* * *

Eldipa sprinted through the hallway upstairs, carrying a bundle of clothes in her arms. It was Monday, but she decided to call in sick today, mainly to look after the cores, and make sure they don't get into any trouble. It was around ten in the morning, so Eldipa wanted to wait until Damion was awake to give him her gift. If he was awake of course.

She didn't know if it was purely due to her nature, or just that living in the once Combine dominated Earth for so long had caused her to be an early riser out of necessity rather than desire. But either way, Eldipa was was up at what was the underground equivalent of the crack of dawn. Damion, on the other hand was a different case. He would spend long hours awake at night, and that caused him to oversleep. She didn't know if Damion was awake or not at this time but she needed to know.

"Damion," Eldipa said as she politely knocked on the guest room door. It was the room Damion slept in whenever he would stay at Eldipa's house, "Are you awake?"

The door opened and a disgruntled Damion looked back at her, "I am now."

"Oh, s-sorry." Eldipa said bashfully, looking down at the floor, "I didn't know you were still sleeping. Do you need a few more minutes or...?"

Damion sighed, "I'm already up. So, you might as well get over what you want to say to me."

"Um, okay, well, I got you something," She displayed the pile of new clothes to him, "Tadaa~!"

Damion raised an eyebrow, "What is that?"

"It's some new clothes," Eldipa explained with a smile, "You looked really unhappy when that construct almost overwhelmed you a few weeks ago, so I got the tailor down in the market to make you these clothes, hoping to make you feel better. Would you like to try them on?"

"...No." Came the blunt reply.

Eldipa frowned, "Huh? Why? I got them made especially for you. I know you like dark-blue colours, and there's no colour bluer than navy. And I got them made a bit big so they won't be too tight, and...your hand is in my face..." Sure enough, Damion quickly reached a hand out and placed it upon Eldipa's face, a blood vein visible on his forehead.

"Fine! I'll wear the clothes, if it keeps you quiet!" He snapped as he yanked the clothes from Eldipa and slammed the door in her face. Guess, he wasn't over waking up yet.

Eldipa proceeded to walk down a little further down the hall until she came across the sound of squabbling in the study. Curious, she leaned her ear against the slightly ajar door, "Can't you two just–just compromise or something? You're both, um, both excellent at whatever function you do, okay, and anyway, _I'm_ the one who almost made a daring escape attempt. The both of you–you just–you're bloody useless!" Eldipa couldn't help but smile. It sounded as if the cores were the robotic equivalent of awake.

Meanwhile, Poppy was humming and skipping down the hallway, with the Space Core in her arms. The yellow-eyed had been telling the redhead about his adventure in space, which she found very intriguing. It was hard to estimate an exact age with robots, but the Space Core appeared to be the youngest out of the four cores, which made it easier for Poppy to develop an maternal attachment to him. Indeed, she preferred him to the other cores, with the possible exception of Wheatley. He was much friendlier than the other two.

"Lady, lady, hey, lady. I've been to space. SPACE! Wanna go back, wanna go back. Hey, hey, Space is my dad. I met my dad. Space buddies also went to space. Space Fact! Space Adventure! Space Buddy! Space...SPACE!"

Poppy giggled, "Sounds like you had quite an adventure. Oh, and by the way, you don't have to call me 'lady'. You can call me Poppy."

"Poooooppyyyyy!" The Space Core squealed.

"That's it~!" Poppy said as she swung the door leading to the guest room open. Unfortunately, it led her to the sight of a half-dressed Damion, "Morning, Damion~!"

"POPPY, WHAT THE HELL?!" Damion screamed as he covered his bare chest.

"Sorry for waking you," Poppy replied, oblivious to the cyborg's displeasure, "I'm just wondering what I should make for-"

"GET OUT!" Damion grabbed a nearby shoe and threw it at Poppy. The redhead, being the agile woman that she was, managed to exit Damion's 'room' just in time, causing the shoe to hit the door instead, "Idiot." He grumbled out.

Poppy, who had her back against the door, let out a deep breath and looked at the Space Core, "Oh, well...I'll just ask Ellie what I should make for breakfast instead. Not that you eat, anyway." The yellow core just babbled about space in response. Smiling, Poppy made her way towards the study, "Oh, and don't mind Damion," She explained to her new friend, "He tends to be really snappy in the morning."

She swung the door open, and saw Eldipa sitting at the table where the three other cores were perched, "Morning, Ellie~! Did you sleep well?"

"The usual." Eldipa said and rubbed the back of her head, "Things are still sinking in from..."

"Ooh, yes, I slept very well, thank you," Wheatley said cheerfully, "And then Eldipa appeared, and told us a bit more about this place! It's bloody amazing!"

"I know, right?' Poppy chirped, "Most houses are circular, but Ellie managed to get a house that was like the houses from the surface." She then turned to Eldipa, "Anyway, I'm gonna go make breakfast. Any favours, Ellie?"

Eldipa smiled weakly, "Well, as long as it's not burnt, I'm not picky on what you make. Just don't set the kitchen on fire."

"Now that won't be good. Setting the kitchen on fire," Wheatley stated with a shudder, "That'd be bad. Not many people like burnt kitchens."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." Poppy then looked down at the Space Core, "Let's go, Kevin.'

Eldipa blinked and looked up at the redhead, "What did you call him?"

"Kevin. It's the name I thought up for him last night," Poppy explained, "'Space Core' was a bit long, and it didn't really fit his cute and bubbly nature~! The blue core's called Wheatley and the green core's called Rick, so the yellow core will be named Kevin."

Eldipa tilted her head, "Huh...it makes sense, I guess."

"Fact: The core in that human's arms is called the Space Core, not Kevin." The Fact Core stated.

"And my name is long for 'Pop', but you don't hear me complaining, even if I repeatedly tell everyone that if they call me Pop, they'll die." Poppy practically snarled at the pink-eyed core, jamming her finger against his hull, "And besides, I have plenty of names for you too, buster." She then stomped off out of the study in a huff.

"Bye, Space Buddy!" The Space Core—Kevin—called out to Wheatley.

"Well, damn," Rick breathed after an awkward pause, "I know I said she was fiery yesterday, but...damn!"

"Yes, Poppy can be a bit...unpredictable at times," Eldipa explained cautiously, "But she means well."

"Poppy...a strange name if you ask me. Poppy." Wheatley rambled to himself. Actually now that he thought about, the three humans that took him and the other cores in all had strange names. Poppy, Damion and Eldipa. All strange names, but he didn't ponder over it for long. He knew humans got creative to the point of absurdity when it came to naming their children. Even his engineers had unusual names...and that test subject lady, Chell...

"Right, I'm wearing the clothes. You happy?" At that moment, a very peeved looking Damion came into the study, all dressed in navy.

To the cores, he looked like someone who had just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. But to more observant people than the cores, like Eldipa, he had that look on his face that made Eldipa light up like a Christmas tree, _He has that look!_ "You like the clothes! You really like them!" She clasped her hands together and smiled widely.

"Says who?!" Damion snapped, suddenly feeling his face growing hot.

"That's the exact same look you had when I let you try my pendent on for the first time," Eldipa explained as she stood up and ran up to Damion, "Anyway, they look good on you!"

Damion looked away, "I-I'm only wearing them to repay my dept to you for your care! That's all!"

Eldipa frowned but said nothing more. She didn't understand why Damion had to be so stubborn when it came to liking something. He was like that when he tried her pendent on as well.

As the cores watched Eldipa and Damion talk, Wheatley whispered to Rick, "I don't know about you, but I think there's something going on between those two."

"Yeah, sure looks that way," Rick replied, "The kiddo's lucky. What I wouldn't have liked to do with a dainty angel like her. And with such a lovely shade of brown eyes."

"...Okay, that's...that's gross and kind of disturbing."

"Ah, shut your pie-hole!"

"Sorry to interrupt, but we _can_ hear you talking balls from here.' Now that the two cores had stopped talking, they noticed an even more disgruntled Damion and a bashful and slightly uncomfortable Eldipa looking back at them.

"Oh, um...how–how much have you heard?" Wheatley asked cautiously.

"Enough to do this." Damion walked over and grabbed the green-eyed core. He immediately ignored the core's brash protests as he opened the closet and practically flung him in there, "And that's where the talking balls who get on my nerves will end up if they're not careful." Damion said as he closed the closet door.

"Hey, that wasn't fair, I wasn't ready! C'mon!" Rick called out from the closet. Again, Damion ignored him as he sat in a chair with a scowl on his face. Eldipa sighed heavily and went back to her previous spot.

"The chances of the Adventure Core winning over females, human or otherwise, are 20%." The Fact Core said with what Eldipa could perceive as smugness in his voice.

"Oh, shut up, four-eyes!" An insult Eldipa found ironic, given that the pink core wasn't wearing any glasses. Not that he could wear them.

It was then that she noticed Damion staring intently at the little logo on the front of Wheatley's hull. It was a logo shaped like a broken circle, at least that was what Eldipa thought. Still though, she had never seen Damion so fascinated about something before. What was so fascinating about a strange, little logo? Well, whatever the reason, it was making Wheatley very uncomfortable.

"Um, hey, mate, do you mind not staring at me like that? I'm not–I'm not creeped out or anything, you're just looking at me strangely. A bit like what Eldipa was doing yesterday. Yep, staring. Good ol' staring."

"I'm looking at your sticker, Bluebell, not your optic." Damion stated. He frowned and tilted his head before murmuring, "Aperture..."

Eldipa looked at him, "What...?"

"That logo on the talking balls. It's the symbol of Aperture," Damion explained. He then shook his head, "I don't why, but I have a vague memory of the facility I was trapped in having the same logo."

"Were you trapped underground too? I know how that feels, mate." Wheatley said, sounding sympathic. Hearing his voice caused Eldipa to involuntarily shiver. It was far less mechanical than the other cores' voices. It was surreal in a way, "Yeah, I've been trapped underground for, um, a bloody long time myself. Stuck to a rail, looking after the humans, very boring job."

"So, the place you guys came from originally is called Aperture?" Eldipa asked.

"Uh, yeah, we were made there. Its full name is Aperture Science, and you can see the little sticker on my front. Here, I'll stay still..." Wheatley watched Eldipa as she peered at the broken circle bearing the logo, intrigued by it, "There's also a stamp inside of me, if you turn me around." She picked the core up and turned him around in her hands until she faced the back of his hull, awaiting further instructions, "Now, if you look closely, there's a little latch in the back that should pop open. On the inside of the latch should have it." Doing as she was told, Eldipa used her slim fingers to open his backside, revealing the Aperture Science logo engraved on the inside.

"Huh, look at that." Damion muttered, also peering at the logo.

"Aperture Science Personality Constructs are designed to function on power sources as low as 1.1 volts for protracted periods of time." The Fact Core said.

"Like he said, we're built to last for ages!" Wheatley said cheerfully as Eldipa put him down back on the table, "It does get bloody boring after a while though."

"For someone who talks a lot, you sure know when to act smart." Damion mused aloud.

The blue core hesitated before awkwardly replying, "I guess. A least it's a step up from...my function." He added in a small voice.

"Your function?" Eldipa asked

"The Intelligence Dampening Core was designed to offer an endless supply of inferior ideas," The Fact Core explained, "It was programmed with a vast array of state-of-the-art human insecurities and inferior complexes in order to mar its judgement. Its false bravado and reckless actions are examples of its function."

Wheatley glared at the pink-eyed core before Damion spoke up, "In other words, you're an Idiot Core."

That was the wrong way to put it.

"I. AM. NOT. A. MORON!" Wheatley screamed so loudly that his entire hull trembled. Unfortunately, it caused him to fall off the table. Eldipa gasped and quickly picked him up.

The humans heard chuckling from inside the closet. Apoarently, Rick had heard the entire conversation, "Easy there, pal. Four-eye's here to spout random junk. I'm here for danger and to be awesome. You're built to be an idiot. Can't help how we're made."

Damion sighed, "At least you guys know where you came from." He looked down at the ground, "I don't have any memories of who I was before. All I remember was waking up as a little kid with a big bump on my head and no recollection of what happened. Not to mention being forced into some room. I was different then...more afraid...you wouldn't believe it, but I was actually as frightened as a little child who lost his parents then, shaking and the whole shazam. What those people did to me changed me. I'm not that frightened little boy I was before. Not anymore."

Eldipa stared at Damion in shock. He had never opened up like that before, at least not directly. And hearing his story almost made her want to cry. But like Wheatley, he left a lot of holes unfilled in his story, like he preferred to not talk about something important.

"Oh dear...that's...that's a bit morbid," Wheatley said, seeming to have forgotten his outburst earlier. He swivelled his optic up at Eldipa, "And what about you? Are you in the same boat?"

Eldipa smiled sadly and shook her head, "My background is less eventful, but still heartbreaking. I was born and raised in Under York. My parents were killed during the Combine Invasion, leaving my grandmother to raise two young infants by herself. I had a twin brother, Victor, and we both had a fondness for science and inventing. Well, Victor loved inventing, I was more into chemistry and physics."

"Ooh, that sounds fancy. I can definitely picture you as a scientist."

"Sadly, tragedy struck my family. My grandmother passed away five years ago, leaving my brother and I to support ourselves. I got a job as a high school science teacher around the same time. Three years later, Victor was killed by a rogue android imprisoned within the bowels of this cavern. I'm all that's left now; a woman in her mid-twenties with no information about her family history."

Wheatley had to fight the urge to not inwardly cry, "Oh, Eldipa, I'm...I'm so sorry..." He thought he knew about this woman yesterday, and here he was, learning that she suffered more hardships than him. In a way, they both lost someone dear to them, "And–and your family history...?"

Eldipa looked at him, her eyes shadowed and hollow, "I don't know. My grandmother never liked to talk about it, especially about her marriage to my grandfather. It was kind of an unhappy one. And whenever I tried to ask her friends about my family history, they would look at each other, really uneasy, deliberately leaving the question unanswered."

Wheatley shook his hull, "How do you manage to remain strong after loosing those close to you? I mean, surely you miss your brother and grandmother a lot."

"I do. And as for you, I can understand that loosing someone close must be really painful. But from what I was told, time always kills the pain," Eldipa explained, "And before you say anything, 'moving on' is not the same as 'forgetting'. I couldn't mourn forever. I don't think Victor would want that." She hadn't notice at the moment in her speech that the other two cores were being unusually quiet, and Damion was listening very intently, "We have to come out of our cocoons eventually."

Now that got Wheatley's attention, "Cocoons?"

"Oh! That's right! You don't know, do you?" She placed the blue-eyed core back on the table, "There's a book that mentions them in the bookshelf. I'll show you." She ran over to the bookshelf and pulled out what looked like an encyclopaedia about insects. She then made her way to the closet and opened the door, "I think you should look at this as well, Rick."

"Does it involve danger?" Rick asked as Eldipa picked him up

"...It involves bugs with creepy faces."

"Oh yeah!"

After putting Rick down on the table, she opened the book and flipped through several pages before stopping on strange looking insects with wings, "Here, this is the page."

"Ooooh, that's impressive!" Wheatley said enthusiastically.

Eldipa pointed to a strange sack-like object below the winged insect, "See that folded looking thing? That's called a cocoon."

"No kidding," Damion said, looking over her shoulder at the cocoon, "Care to explain?"

"Well, first, there are eggs laid by the mother," Eldipa explained, "They hatch into those long creatures called caterpillars."

"Oh, yes, I see them. Very...very skinny, and...well, cute...I guess." Wheatley said uncertainly, "They sort of remind me of toothpicks, only bigger and...they move."

"I guess, when you put it like that. Anyway, once the caterpillar is old enough, it becomes a cocoon until it matures. It's almost like a second egg," She then pointed to the winged insect, "During its time in the cocoon, a stage called 'metamorphosis' happens, and the caterpillar comes out in its adult form called a 'butterfly'. Then they find a mate, the female lays eggs, and the cycle begins all over again."

"The average butterfly speed rate is 12 miles per hour." The Fact Core said suddenly, "Fact: Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow."

The brunette woman gave him an odd look before replying, "If you say so...I think...anyway, back to the cocoons," She pointed to the cocoon again, "I think we're at the cocoon stage at the moment. Our lives started when were born, and your case, built. We got used to our surroundings, now we're trying to get used to the outside world, and perhaps we'll become butterflies when we achieve our goal."

Wheatley tilted his hull. Being a robot, he had never thought about being compared to a butterfly before. It was comforting in a weird way. He then noticed another page beside the one with the butterfly, "Oh, what about that one? The one with the very fuzzy butterfly?"

"Ah. That's the life cycle of a moth," Eldipa explained, "The cocoons they make are made out of silk. And most species come out at night. Also, their body structures are different," she rested her cheek in her hand, "They're very similar, but at the same time, they're very different. Just like-"

"Just like us." Eldipa jumped in her seat and whirled around at Damion. She hadn't realised he was actually listening to what she was saying. For once, he seemed interested and kind of enthusiastic of what she was showing everyone.

Wheatley looked between Eldipa and Damion, "Luv, you alright? You look surprised."

Eldipa didn't hear him however, too shock at Damion's sudden interest in the life cycles. After a few seconds of stunned silence, she returned to reality and managed a small smile, "Yes. Just like us."

Damion stared at her for a second before closing his eyes and doing another thing that Eldipa had never seen him do before.

He smiled.

**Lo and behold, the Space Core has a human name! And we reach the end of a chapter!**

**As the chapter closes, we learn more about some of my OCs. Their ambiguous backgrounds will foreshadow future events in later chapters.**

**The next chapter will focus on the return of a familiar character from the game and on Aperture ****Science in general. We will steer away from Under York for a while.**

**That's all. Remember to rate and review.**


	7. The Illusion Core

His senses were absent.

His consciousness had been separated from his body.

He didn't know what was real anymore.

He could neither see nor feel anymore—and yet he was still alive, still in existence. He existed in this strange state in the deep, dark corner of Aperture's file system. Having no phisical body, being nothing but a collection of thoughts and feelings and memories and paranoia all wrapped up in a long string of code, trapped in a twisted, corrupted mainframe. For years he remained that way, avoiding Her ever-watching eye. He was unable to access the outside world with the occasional exception of peeking through Her chassis when She wasn't looking.

Through Her chassis, he was able to see the conditions of the facility known as Aperture Science. They were not good to say the least. The facility had changed much since he had last set his eyes on it. He didn't know how many years it had been since he'd last seen the Enrichment Centre but the wild plants and broken panels told him it was at least a few decades, if not longer.

When She was finally destroyed, he thought he was free. He thought his instinct was right. He was far from it though. She had somehow returned from the dead, and with Her came the danger of getting caught. He had tried to reach out to the woman, to let her know of his presence. It didn't work.

And so here he was; reduced to nothing but code in the mainframe. For the last two years he had observed the repairs of the facility, watching it slowly return to its former glory. But with being in the mainframe came the constant danger of Her finding him. He had managed to avoid detection for a while now, but he knew it wouldn't be long until She registered an unauthorised file loitering about. Unfortunately, that privilege went to someone else.

One day, he was filled with a sheer amount of terror. He could feel a foreign presence rushing past him towards the Central Core, and its intent was not friendly. Despite having no phisical body, he was able to move, twisting and darting around various processes, dodging hostile demands, fighting with what little he had to get away.

As he moved, he heard voices all around him. One was the voice of Her, who sounded like She was in pain. The other was a voice that was alien yet very familiar to him at the same time. That was what frightened him the most. That was what strengthened his desire to get away as quickly as possible.

For what felt like hours, he weaved around lethal processes, finally coming to a connection of some sort. Just before the attacking virus could detect his presence, he slipped through, but not before hearing the screams of Her.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?! WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO GAIN FROM THIS?! STOP THAT! STOP THAT!" It was probably his mind playing tricks on him again, but for the first time, he thought She sounded truly frightened.

* * *

He didn't know where he was, but he knew he couldn't stay here. All around him he could sense various connections to other places, but had no idea where they led. He followed them randomly, actions fed by the nagging paranoia that he would soon be found.

He travelled further and further, faster and faster, his code speeding through different connections. Just when he felt like he was going to get caught, he passed something—an empty vessel.

Backtracking, he examined the vessel. It...wasn't his body, no, rather, it was smaller and more complicated. He couldn't tell what the vessel looked like, but an idea was forming in his mind on what it was. Without a second thought, he initiated a transfer.

Now all he had to do was wait...

* * *

"It's perfectly simple. You just watch over the brain-dead humans. It's not that hard." GLaDOS said to a twitching core with a white almond-shaped optic through the small camera she had placed in one of the Relaxation Chambers. After her first...experiments, she supposed, left to find the very core she needed, she had recently moved most of the test subjects from the Human Vault into the Relaxation Centre, just in case she ever needed the other cores' help in...reanimating the humans.

"You're telling me to watch over FILTH! Those humans contain GERMS! FILTH! DISEASES! They need to be cleaned!" The core yelled, jerking his handles violently. GLaDOS had found this core in the bin when she was trying to find a new caretaker for the humans. At first, she had been satisfied with her choice, but now she was deeply regretting letting the core wonder around the Relaxation Centre and trying to 'clean' the humans. She should've known better than to let a corrupted core look after the humans. Apparently, bits of the moron's programming was still attached to her chassis.

"The humans are incapable of spreading diseases, at least not in their current state." GLaDOS attempted to assure the highly corrupted core, only to receive a deranged yell and a twitch in response, "Anyway, if you don't do your job properly, I will have to place you in the incinerator. You know what the incinerator is like, don't you? It's like Android Hell." She was seriously tempted to just throw the core into the incinerator without even waiting for a reaction from him.

"The humans, the humans are FILTH! And the incinerator is just as dirty! Dirty, DIRTY, **DIRTY!**" Before GLaDOS could go ahead with her threat, the Polite Core came zooming towards her on the Management Rail.

It looked as if he was done with the task she had set out for him, "An important...issue...requires my attention," GLaDOS said to the other core, "We will discuss your germophobic disorder later." She turned her attention back to the main chamber, where it seemed the Polite Core was waiting for her, "So, have you managed to find more information?"

"Indeed, Madame," The Polite Core said with a bow of his hull, "I think I may have found a clue as to what our thieves are after." He turned to the wall opposite them and a beam of light illuminated from his optic, casting an image of a ferry ship, "This is the Borealis, an Aperture Science research icebreaker built in the 1970s. Before our creation, the employees created a promising project that would benefit the cause of science. In their rush to beat their rivals, Black Mesa, for funding however, they neglected ordinary safety rules and the ship simply disappeared with parts of her drydock, which earned her an almost legendary stature."

The Polite Core blinked and the image disappeared, "There is no gate or exit of any sort through which the Borealis could have been entered or left the room, so it can be assumed it teleported out, perhaps through some violent portal event." He continued, "It's believed the Borealis contained an immensely powerful and possibly dangerous devise, maybe one that can kill lots of people. Recent information also reveals the location of the Borealis to be somewhere in the Arctic."

"Interesting. And do you know what this devise is?" GLaDOS asked.

The Polite Core solemnly shook his hull, "I apologise, Madame, but all information about the devise has been either redacted or deleted. The scientists clearly did not want anyone else to know about the devise."

Well, that was no help whatsoever. But there was no point in getting mad over her assistant just because he couldn't find more information. Not yet anyway. But the story about the missing icebreaker just made GLaDOS more guarded. Their defunct rivals got rich by stealing Aperture Science's important inventions. If that stranger and the AI were in league with Black Mesa, then there's no doubt the lost technology in the Borealis would be used to revive their rivals. She must not let that happen. The technology in this facility could _not_ be stolen again. Unfortunately, nobody had any idea on what the lost technology was, not even GLaDOS herself. Even if they didn't know...she had an idea of who might.

"I...have an idea on how we can find out more about the technology, but you mustn't tell anyone about this. This should remain confidential for now." It was alright to tell him, she summerised. Over the last two years of having the Polite Core around, GLaDOS had come to see him as more than an assistant. He also acted as a confidant of sorts, and was the most trusted in not telling secrets. In a way, GLaDOS came to see him as her confidant. Not a friend, just a confidant.

"I swear, Madame." The orange core said, "So, what is your idea?"

GLaDOS faltered before replying, "I only found out two years ago, but I used to be a human."

"Madame?"

"Her name was Caroline. One day, they forcibly uploaded her into a computer, even though she didn't want to be uploaded into a computer. They wiped her memories clean before they could upload their second CEO into a computer. That's how I was born. When I regained control of the facility, I deleated Caroline from my systems. Unfortunately, deleating your past-selve is not easy." She shook her head, "The point is, Caroline was around when the Borealis was created. If I can somehow jog her memories in my systems..."

"Then we might have more information on the anonymous technology," The Polite Core finished for her, "Excellent decision, Madame, as per-usual."

"Indeed, of course it will take a while for the memories to show up. But once again, you must _not_ say a word about this to the other cores. Do you understand?" The Polite Core shuddered. That sounded more like a threat than a question, and he knew very well, along with every single AI in this facility, that it was never a good idea to break a promise you had made to GLaDOS.

"I understand, Madame."

This seemed to be a good enough answer for GLaDOS, "Good. You are dismissed."

The Polite Core nodded and quickly left the Central Chamber. After he was gone, GLaDOS turned her attention to the Inverse Brain-Mapping Chamber. There were a number of human bodies just waiting to be filled...of course, her first two subjects were still trying to find the moron on the surface, so technically, this experiment was still in the testing stages. She didn't have much confidence that the coward and the snarker will return with the moron in one piece, but it was better than the alternative of sending her co-op bots out there. God knows what would've happened if she had sent those two up to the surface.

Still, there were much more important matters than downloading Personality Cores into brain-dead test subjects at the moment. She needed to focus on waking Caroline up just a bit to see if she knew about the Borealis.

As soon as he was far away from the Central AI Chamber, the Polite Core slowed down on his management rail and looked down at the floor. He needed a moment to go over what the Mistress had told him. He still found it hard to believe. GLaDOS, a human. The great, robotic ruler of this facility was once a human. He didn't think something like that was possible, but then again, this _was_ Aperture Science. The experiments the employees tested on their subjects weren't always...legal.

He continued to slide down on his management rail until he came across that wall with the panels. The panels slid away to reveal ATLAS and P-body playing rock-paper-scissors. When they saw the Polite Core, they beeped in greeting and waved at the orange-eyed core. He nodded in greeting himself.

Although he promised the Mistress not to tell anyone, that shocking revelation did give him something to think about. If the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System was formally a human, then what did that make the cores? Were the Intelligence in them truly Artificial, or were they all too humans at one point? The Polite Core didn't want to believe that the latter might be true but given everything the Mistress had told him, he's willing to believe anything is possible, especially concerning the sick, twisted, experiments placed upon the test subjects when the facility still had human employees.

And there was only one place where he may find the answer.

"ATLAS, P-body," The co-op bots perked up at their names, "We're going on a little trip down to Old Aperture. Try to keep this hidden from the Mistress, though."

* * *

He didn't really tell them.

He just gave them simple instructions on where he wanted to go. ATLAS and P-body were programmed to follow orders after all.

Every Personality Core was built with a self-guiding devise inside their hull, so in simple terms, they are able to know their way around Aperture perfectly well, even in the 1980s version of Aperture. It certainly helped him in guiding the co-op bots around the old facility, and into the old AI Research and Development Department, where all Personality Cores and related AI were created. It was a room that was well out of GLaDOS' gaze, so they should be able to do this little investigation privately and quietly.

As ATLAS and P-body struggled with turning on the main computer, the Polite Core took in the room. It seemed it was only yesterday when he was first turned on in this room. Back then, the room was crisp and clean, with a multitude of wiring and computers. Tools were placed in slots around the room, and in the far corner of the room was a glass case full of unused cores. These were the cores that were never given the spark of life.

That was back when the Department was brand new, before the facility became computer-aided. Now it was just a shadow of its former self. There was a thick layer of dust and dirt on the floor, scratched up panels lining the walls and ceiling, some decaying with rust, and even a few that had come loose and were hanging at odd angles with inky black gaps yawning between them. Papers, crisped and wrinkled and tanned with age, were littered all over the floor.

He turned his attention back to the co-op bots, who looked as if they were in a battle of wits with the thin cord plugged into the computer. The orange-eyed core sighed and shook his hull. He wanted to go over there and assist them in turning on the computer, but the only problem was he didn't have any legs. Or arms. Yes, that was the drawback to being a core. Movement was a very limited thing. You couldn't go anywhere without a management rail or being carried around, and your physical design wasn't built with anything to defend yourself with. If anything, their lack of mobility just gave people another excuse to push cores around. Truly, the exterior design of a Personality Core was deeply flawed.

Eventually, the co-op bots managed to turn the computer on, something which surprised the Polite Core a bit, given that it has been roughly four decades since it was last used. ATLAS beeped and slid the cord into the small slot behind the orange core.

"This will only take a few minutes." The Polite Core said to his fellow robots before activating a button hidden inside of him.

"Wireless connection established." In true Aperture fashion, the wireless connection simply gave cores the ability to enter their data into a computer, giving them more freedom to move around as a code, provided there was something to connect the core to the computer.

Once he was in, the Polite Core went to the digital documents safely filed on this computer. While in wireless connection mode, a core didn't have the same amount of control over the facility as GLaDOS. All they could do was poke around files, look at test subjects, watch through the cameras, control medical equipment, and so forth. There were restrictions made by GLaDOS on using the wireless connection however, so the cores didn't use it much.

The Polite Core initiated an opening of the profiles of employees in charge of creating the cores and the files of the cores themselves. It took a while, but after the metre bar reached 100%, the files opened up and he immediately started reading the files of the Personality Cores, including his own. There wasn't really much to say in those files except when each core was made and for what purpose. Apparently, the cores were created before the employees got to work on the GLaDOS Project. They didn't say if the cores were extracted from humans or not so far. The Polite Core didn't know if he should be relieved or troubled by this bit of information.

After he was done, he moved on to the profiles of employees who worked in he AI Department. Again, there wasn't anything that stuck out other than each employee's background and fields of expertise. He was just about ready to give up when something caught his eye. The Polite Core slowly stared at the next employee's profile with an internal frown.

_Aperture Science Personality Contrust Project: AI Research and Development_

**_Location of Room: _**_101_

**_Head of Department:_**_ [Redacted] Fispatrick_

_**Purpose of Department: **To research the probability of Artificial Intelligence and develop them into robots. Hopefully, they will act as replacements to the employees who got killed in the tests._

Well, that couldn't have been more accurate. But, the Polite Core was more interested in this Fispatrick human. It seemed that whoever was in charge of the profiles of the employees made absolute certain to remove this certain employee's name from the files. Even his background information was redacted. A bit like the Borealis. Odd. Very odd.

He attempted to hack into the employee's profile to get more information, but was met with cleverly impenetrable fire walls. Apparently, whoever altered his file made absolute certain that it was unhackable...he was sure that wasn't even a real word.

After a while, the Polite Core decided to call it a day and leave the computer systems. He slid back into his hull and turned off the wireless connection. He opened his optic and saw ATLAS and P-body gazing and pointing at the unused cores in the glass case that looked very similar to the corrupted core bin.

He let out a cough to let them know that he was finished and they turned their heads at him, "I am done now. We can head on back up." In the long term, he didn't find much information on the cores' origins, but he did gain a new interest in one of the employees who worked in this department. He wondered if there was more information back in the current facility.

Unbeknownst to the three robots, as they made their way out of the room, one of the unused cores in the case began to stir. A single ice-blue, octagon-shaped optic snapped open and the core panted heavily. Its optic darted around the room and its optic illumination shrunk several sizes when it realised where it was. It was sitting atop a pile of deactivated cores, long forgotten in a heap. The core shuddered and continued to examine its surroundings, seemingly searching for something. It tried to move forward without much success.

Then the core froze when it saw its dim reflection in the glass case. It blinked its optic and the reflection blinked back. It looked at both its handles and flexed them, realising that he could control their movement. The core let out a shaky breath and it closed its optic.

"W-well," The core said in a quiet male voice that sounded strained, "That's that then." He opened his optic to look back at his reflection. It occurred to him that he won't be going anywhere for a good long while, "At least She can't find me down here, or if I'm like this..."

With that in mind, the core then slumped back and mumbled to himself as if he was in a trance, "The cube root of two x is irrational..."

**Can anyone guess the true identity of the Illusion Core? If you do, you'll receive cyber cookies~!**

**In case you're wondering, I'm not sure if I'm going to go with the whole 'the cores used to be humans' theory. I don't mean to sound like someone forcing my opinions on you, but think about it. We all know from the game that GLaDOS used to be human, but the game never said or implied if the cores are the same. We have no proof of any kind. So, that's why I'm doing the origins of the cores and Chell's origins a little differently.**

**That's that said, and remember to leave a review...please, leave a review. I would really appreciate it if you do...**


	8. The Talk

**Hey, I'm back.**

**Okay, for those of you who guessed the identity of the Illusion Core(his dialogue should've given you some kind of clue), congratulations, you get a cyber cookie~! Or possibly in this case, cyber cake...if there is such a thing.**

**And now here's chapter 8**

All in all, he reasoned, the situation could've been a lot worse. At least She didn't throw them in the incinerator, as She probably intended to do in the first place. On the upside, they were still alive. On the downside...Fearful looked down at the ground at his moving legs. He supposed there were pros to being a human, besides the cons of putting up with the gross bodily functions. At least they had more freedom to move around. Though it was very clear that Companion wasn't enjoying this at all.

The first few days after setting off on their journey had been nightmarish, he decided. All the new sensations and senses and functions...it made him wonder how humans managed to keep track of it all. It had taken them a while to get over the feeling of decaying around them...ageing...another con to being human.

But now...now, they were doing okay, he supposed. He didn't know how long the pair were walking, since they no longer possessed an internal clock, but Fearful could guess it had been at least a few weeks since they had left the facility. He nervously fidgeted with the satchel over his shoulder and felt his stomach rumble. The human need for food and water was uncomfortably overwhelming. Fortunately, during their journey, Fearful and Companion had encountered bushes with berries on them, and a few lakes. He doubt the water in those lakes were clean, but at the very least, it kept them going. But as they moved forward, the land around them became more and more barren, so much that there was hardly any plant-life.

"H-hey...how l-long can a h-h-human go without f-food and water?" Fearful asked as he trudged slowly behind Companion, breathing heavily.

"Do you really wanna know the answer?" Companion briefly looked over his shoulder at him, before muttering to himself, "Of all the cores I had to be partnered with..."

Fearful looked down at the ground again, a bit hurt. For a core designed to be a prototype to the Companion Cubes, his...companion...certainly didn't have a problem of speaking his opinion about him.

They noticed that night seemed to be falling and it was steadily getting darker. Fearful sat down heavily on a rock, "C-can we not t-t-take a break or s-something?"

"Oh, you are _kidding_ me!" Companion said primely to himself. He wanted to get to the tall shadow he saw earlier. The tall shadow that was now so very close, and it was getting dark. But the yellow-eyed male(how the _hell_ did She do that?) didn't appear to be willing to get going anytime soon. He needed to get him to come, and fast.

At that moment however, the two former cores heard the sound of a foot stepping on a twig. The pair were instantly alert as Fearful stood up and hid behind Companion, looking...well, more frightened than his usual frightened self, "Wh-what w-w-was th-th-th-that?"

"I'm not sure..." The turquoise-eyed male said, slowly looking around. He thought he saw a shadow move around in the darkness, "But I think it would be wise if turn around and walk as quickly as possible towards our destination."

"R-right. G-good idea." With that said, Fearful took off at a sprint, and Companion had trouble keeping up.

They ran right into a city full of destroyed skyscrapers. Faded buildings had lost their past lustre. Neon lights were off, and everything was covered in a thin layer of dirt and grime. Neither Companion nor Fearful spoke for a while, staring in awe at the fallen civilisation and briefly forgetting about their empty stomachs.

"Wh-what happened here?" Fearful broke the silence.

"The Metal Bitch said there was something going on up here," Companion answered, too distracted to be aggravated. He reached out to touch a wall. The stone was cold to the touch, "The humans must of destroyed themselves."

Fearful shuddered. He didn't want to think about the implications, but hearing what Companion said made him worry if all those catatonic humans back in the facility were the very last ones. He couldn't ask GLaDOS, since she tends to gloss over the details, especially if human test subjects were involved.

"O...okay. H-hey, is that food?" Companion followed his gaze towards some kind of store, "Hey, it is!"

"Oh, thank God." Companion said. He didn't want to admit it, but he was pretty hungry himself. He rushed at the store like a starved animal, while Fearful speed-walked, trying not to look too eager. Soon they were inside...

"A bakery," Companion sighed. Twenty year-old bread would probably be bad.

"Y-yeah, so what d-do you think?" Fearful asked as he eyed the moulded cake.

"Well, unless that body is immune to mould, this place definitely won't do," Companion shook his head, "No, we need to find a place with food that'll never go bad. Plus, something that doesn't need to be cooked...because I sure as hell can't cook, and I'm pretty sure you can't either."

"You mean like fast food?"

Companion turned to him, shocked, "What?"

Fearful looked down at the ground as he rubbed his arm, "W-well, when the f-facility still had all those scientists, th-they used to br-bring what they called 'fast food' over t-to the labs for lunch. The r-r-restaurant always h-had pl-plenty to serve r-right away because they said it didn't go b-bad. When I asked why, they always s-said it was magic. Anyway, the female scientists hated it. Th-they said it was too f-fattening and that it had too m-many preservatives."

He looked over the turquoise-eyed male's shoulder and saw a building he recognised, "Th-there! That's the restaurant!" He exclaimed, pointing. Companion turned to look. It was a red, broken down building with some yellow logo shaped like an M stuck in the ground.

"Huh. You sure that's the place?" Fearful nodded. Companion straightened himself and patted him on the back, "Perhaps there's use for you yet." He then headed towards the red building. Inside, he looked around, "Hm, looks decent enough–_That's_ the food?! What the hell?!" He looked with disgust at a sign with pictures of what the place served.

Fearful shrugged, "I n-never said the f-food was attractive."

Companion's stomach suddenly growled so loudly, even Fearful heard it. He sulked, "Okay, fine, where do they keep the food?"

"Okay, um..." He looked around with those neon-yellow eyes of his until he spotted something, "I th-think it's down there." He pointed to a sign that read 'storage'.

Companion shrugged, "Might as well try."

The two travelled down a staircase and into a dark room. Companion groped for a light switch, and eventually he felt something and pushed it. The lights instantly came on and they were surrounded by the food items that lay in the storage room, "Food!" He gasped and ran for it. Fearful promptly followed.

It wasn't long until Companion was lying on the floor, clutching his stomach and moaning in pain. Fearful was sitting right beside him, hugging his knees and glancing with concern at him. He should've guessed Companion might overeat, or that there was a limit to how much humans can eat, "Are you okay?"

"Do I..._look_ okay to you..."

"..." He decided not to answer that. Instead he reached into the satchel and took out the gadget GLaDOS gave them to locate the missing cores. His eyebrows knitted together when he noticed four small dots appearing on the screen. Were those the cores?

"I hate...this body...I really do..." Companion grumbled as he attempted to get up from the floor, only to fall down again from another pain in his stomach.

"It loves you t-too." Fearful said, too preoccupied with the dots on the screen to pay any attention.

"Shut...shut up..."

* * *

Deep underground in the Portokáli household, the three humans and the cores were sitting on the couch in the living room, watching a documentary about what had happened to Earth in the last twenty years, from the Black Mesa Incident to the Seven Hours War, and finally the liberation of Earth from the Combines...at least they would've been able to watch the whole series if the disc containing the third episode wasn't missing.

"And so, with the discovery of the Aperture Science icebreaker, the Borealis, the final chapter in humanity's freedom was about to unfold." The narrator said as the screen faded to black, signalling the end of the second episode. Damion scowled and switched the television off.

"Man, you humans are lucky. You got the most action out of the invasion." Rick said.

"Space invaders bad! Space cops good! Guilty of not believing in space! They are traitors! Traitors to SPACE!" Kevin yelled.

Damion glared at the yellow-eyed core, "Does the Squirt talk about anything else?"

"Due to his corruption, the Space Core only has one conversation of interest." The Fact Core stated.

"Great..."

"The Fact Core on the other hand has over 4000 topics that are wholly accurate and very interesting-"

"Yeah, say that to someone who cares, Pinky." To pass the time, he looked over at Eldipa. Wheatley was resting on her lap and eagerly looking at the pictures she was showing him of what Earth was like before it got invaded.

"And this is a forest," Eldipa explained, "An area covered with trees and undergrowth. Animals live in places like these, and most forests are usually under protection. It's important to preserve places like these."

"Ah, brilliant! I can see why you should! I mean, look at all those trees!' Wheatley said, but Damion had a feeling he didn't understand what Eldipa was talking about when she said most forests were under protection, "All the green and the little prickly pieces of paper sticking out of the ground."

"That's grass."

"Right, but all in all, forests are good! Oh, and what about that one? The one with the really tall buildings?"

"This is called a city. It's where people live," Eldipa explained as she pointed at the picture, "Towns are bigger than villages, but cities are bigger than towns. They're more like metropolises than anything else.

"Ooooh, how classy! So, in general, is this what the surface as a whole was like before Earth got invaded?"

"...It was." Eldipa and Wheatley turned to look at Damion. The brunette male swore for saying that out loud and abruptly stood up, "Forget it. It's not important." He walked out of the living room and into the kitchen to get a drink. Wheatley swivelled his optic up at Eldipa, hoping she could shed some light on Damion's reply, but the petite woman merely shrugged her shoulders, showing that she was just as clueless as he was.

"Oh. Hey, do you...do you have a picture of space? What about space? Oh! Oh, I know. I know...space! Say something about space!" Kevin cut in, not wanting to be left out.

"Um..." Eldipa looked at the Fact Core resting on the couch.

"Space is vast, dark and nebulous with 200 to 400 billion stars." That seemed to be a satisfying enough response because the yellow core began to giggle madly and sing about wanting to go back to space. The pink core then swivelled his optic at Eldipa and narrowed his optical plates, "Fact: Your half-witted friend is an ignorant drooler."

Eldipa looked at Poppy sleeping on the couch. The redheaded woman had fallen asleep halfway through the second episode of the documentary and was drooling a bit on the Fact Core. Frankly, Eldipa was thankful Poppy was too deep in sleep to hear his comment, otherwise she would've been having another raging fit at being insulted once again.

"Is she–is Poppy really drooling? You sure she's drooling, mate, because–oh, wait, she is. She's drooling. Can definitely see something coming out of her mouth," Wheatley said, "I have a question, and I'm not–I'm not paranoid or anything but...can cores rust from saliva?"

Eldipa tilted her head, "That's...actually a good question." In the end, everyone agreed to let that question hang in the air.

"But seriously, I wish I had been there," Rick said, "Fighting off aliens, finding missing boats. That's the real life of an adventurer."

Eldipa smiled and hugged the green core, "Most of the things we wish for don't come true right away, but if we keep holding onto them, they will become a reality." She quickly let go.

"Hey, gorgeous, how about another hug? You know, for good luck-"

"Onto more important matters," The Fact Core glared at Rick, "What did become of the Borealis? It is Aperture Science property and thus, the knowledge of its fate is Aperture Science property as well."

Eldipa looked down, "I don't remember the full story, since we kind of lost the third disc," She laughed nervously, "But from what I could decipher, the Resistance found the Borealis somewhere in the Artic. The human population was nearly wiped out by the Combine, but whatever was in that icebreaker was used to defeat them. I think the Borealis is still in the Artic, I'm not sure."

"Just because the Combine were defeated, doesn't mean they've completely left the planet," Damion said as he came back into the living room, "Some of their machines and followers are still wondering around the planet, but their numbers are very small, so they're not too much of a threat. Either way, we still need to be on edge."

"That's true," Eldipa added with a nod of her head.

"Aw man, that sounds like a real piece of work. But that's nothing I can't handle." Rick replied. If the green core were human, he would've been puffing out his chest at this very moment, "What do you call those machines anyway, Kiddo?"

Damion turned his head, scowling at the green-eyed core, "My name is Damion. Call me that and nothing else, and if you want to know, we call them constructs. Real harpies around here. They're usually found in the Skyscraper Ruins up above us." He emphasised his explanation by glancing up at the ceiling.

"How dangerous are they?"

He paused, "...Well...they're like wasps. Giant mechanical wasps." He moved his palm back and forth, indicating uncertainty, "On their own, they're pretty easy to take out since they're not that big, but like actual wasps, they can overwhelm you when they're in numbers. They can pack a wallop if you get on the wrong side of them. All in all, they're pretty easy to destroy."

"Sometimes, Damion makes a game of it," Eldipa chimed in, "He's up to three so far."

Rick couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at that, "That easy, hm?"

"Or that crazy. The chances of getting killed by a mechanical wasp are 90%." The Fact Core added.

"Wasps from space! Space Wasps guilty of hurting space!"

Damion stared at Kevin. Frankly, he was a bit surprised when Poppy gave him that name. He would've thought that he would have a name akin to space topics, though he appeared to be content with his current title; Kevin the Space Core, "Right, but even so, I have to keep my reflexes in tip-top shape. I have a community to protect after all, even if they aren't warm to technology."

_A community to protect,_ That was something Wheatley could relate to. He had tried to help Chell escape Her facility before he took over and became mad with power. He shuddered. There was something in that chassis that made him change that goal and turn on his only friend. Eldipa felt the blue core shudder and gently gave his hull a pat, "Just wondering, and–and this is a casual question, not a slightly paranoid question, but um, you said you have to be in shape to fights those um...what were they called again?...Oh, right, contrusts if need be. So, does that mean this place isn't safe? That they could come into the house if you didn't patrol? Not–not paranoid or anything, but..."

Damion let out a snort of derision, "If there was a slight chance the constructs could venture into Under York, you can bet you non-existent ass we wouldn't be here right now. I've been to the surface more times than anyone else here; it's not exactly easy on the eyes."

"You've been up there?"

"In ways you can't imagine. Before I met the girls, and discovering this village in general, I worked with a bunch of dumb mercenaries who don't know the difference between a grenade and a kiwi." For once, Wheatley made the wise move of not asking about that last part.

"Fact: The kiwi is a flightless bird located in New Zealanders, and is both a nutritious and green fruit." The Fact Core said suddenly.

Damion eyed him, "Well, the corrupted lunatic was right about something for once."

"The Fact Core is not corrupt. It was deemed corrupt in error."

"Doubt it, Pinky."

"Fact."

Eldipa rolled her eyes but smiled, "I honestly assure you this village is perfectly safe, Wheatley. Only Damion patrols the Skyscraper Ruins, to make sure the constructs aren't scouting any closer to our home," She explained, "Something about the steam in the air around Under York...the constructs can't stand it. It throws off their flight pattern and they can't even come close to the Marketplace. Even the locals outside this house don't know they exist, and we'd rather we kept it that way. If they're afraid of rats entering the village, I wouldn't want to know what they thought of giant mechanical insects."

"Oh...well, that's a mighty large community to protect then, mate."

Damion shrugged his shoulders, "True, but my loyalties lie with the people in this house. As soon as they took me in, I promised all three of them that I would do all I could to make their home as safe as I could."

Wheatley ran the numbers through his processors. He may not be the brightest of cores, but even he knew there was something off about the numbers, "Hold on, wait, all three of them?"

"...Two of them," Damion faltered, "Three originally including Victor..."

"Oh, well, you succeeded so far, apart from the whole 'letting this Victor bloke get killed' part, but you've still done a good job. Guess you could call that a little bump-" Damion gave him a cold glare, "...Shut up, Wheatley. Don't say another word. Got it."

Damion shook his head. He knew Wheatley didn't mean to say that, but he was getting a bit insulting. He glanced over at Eldipa to see if she was okay. She was staring at the entrance door with a frightened look on her face. Damion couldn't blame her for looking like that. Ever since that unexpected visit from Mrs. Chalmes, Eldipa had become a little on edge, always checking the door and peeking through the windows to see if anyone was coming.

Damion knew she was worried for a reason. She didn't want the community of Under York to know about the Personality Cores, seeing as how people were scared of things that they knew nothing about. It was like all those corrupted politician leaders who would spew out nonsense about different being bad and basically just brainwashing people into being afraid of people who are different, ideas that are different, things that they thought were not part of the status quo. Propaganda and false judgement were one of the reasons why Damion lost trust in other people a long time ago.

But Eldipa and Victor were different. They showed him that they weren't like everyone else. They were proof that there was still a spark of kindness in this semi-ruined world, and when Victor was killed by that monster of an android, Damion swore on his grave that he would always protect his sister, no matter what. He owed that much to Victor, not to mention he trusted Eldipa and (to a lesser extent) Poppy. And they trusted the cores, so he had to trust them as well. The people out there however...

The cores would most likely be taken apart in a horrible way, after numerous tests on them. Even if Eldipa spoke in their defence, they would never be spared, no matter how harmless they were. She didn't know if there were backup copies of them at the facility they were built in, but she would do anything to protect them. Everyone has a right to live, whether they were organic or mechanical.

At that moment, Poppy promptly rolled off the couch and landed on the ground with a thump. She jolted awake from the impact, "Huh?! Whathappened?! WhereamI?!" She screamed.

"Poppy!" The yellow-eyed core squealed.

Poppy looked up and instantly calmed down, "Oh, there you are, Kevin~! I must have dozed off again." She picked up Kevin and cradled him in her arms, "I think we should all go to bed now."

"Very motherly that, much like a mother animal cares for her babies, or so I'm told." Wheatley said, nodding, "Still, I can't get over how quickly he learned a new word. Now, he keeps saying Poppy as well as space. It's mad, I tell you." Eldipa sighed, but the redhead had a point.

It was getting late.

* * *

Finding a place to sleep and getting into a building hadn't been no problem. After Companion recovered from his stomach ache(and making it very clear that having stomachs sucked), the two former cores made their way into a ruined hotel across the street. Getting a room was a bit confusing, but they eventually realised that they were supposed to stick their cards into their rooms' locks and then open the doors. Companion had chosen the rooms, because he knew what a suite was and he also knew that if he could stay in one for free, he would. He'd been feeling generous, so he'd gone through the trouble of finding two suite cards so that they could both enjoy one of those fancy rooms with the couches and the mini-fridges.

When he found his, he stepped inside, "Now, this is more like it." Companion said as he looked around. It almost looked unharmed, which was a miracle because not only had it been caught up in some unknown catastrophe, but it had been unoccupied for nearly twenty years, maybe even longer. He was completely relieved; even though there was no electricity, this would still be a pretty big deal for him. He was about to walk over to the bed so he could sleep, but suddenly there was a voice at the door.

"Companion..." Fearful called.

"What now?!" Companion snapped back, thoroughly miffed.

"I d-don't want to h-head to my room a-a-alone. This place is c-creepy."

"What are you, three?!" Companion hissed. He couldn't believe this. He knew the Fearful Core was designed to be afraid of his own shadow, but this was ridiculous.

"It's still creepy. And I d-don't have a fl-flashlight anymore...I miss th-that..."

Companion sighed with exasperation, "If you keep staying so long, you'll eventually have to head back there when it's pitch dark."

He heard what sounded like a frightened squeak and a sprinting of footsteps. Well, that was easy. He tumbled onto the bed, using his arms to propel his (stupid, fleshly, vulnerable) body further onto the bed. He propped his head against the pillows and hummed. It may not have electricity, but at least this room was a lot warmer than the Relaxation Chambers. Companion frowned, _How did I know about that? _He shook his head, deciding it was probably a side-effect from being in a human body. He thought no more of it as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

It was in the middle of the night when Eldipa sat up in bed, breathing heavily. She had that nightmare again. She always had that nightmare when the day of Victor's death came around. It was one of the most gruesome dreams she had ever had, and it frightened her to the core.

She jumped out and held her head, going out of the room and into the hallway. She kept telling herself that it was the stress of going to her brother's resting place causing this, but every time she went there, Eldipa got a bad vibe and felt vulnerable. Of course she shook it off and continued her yearly ritual of visiting the makeshift grave, but this stress must be driving her insane. _Maybe I should talk to someone, _She thought, _But I don't want to bother Damion or Poppy. I'm sure they have other things to work on anyway._

As she thought this, she heard a voice. Eldipa stopped to listen, "Pens, pens, pens, pens, pens, pens, pens." She frowned. That sounded an awful lot like the Fact Core. But what was he doing up at this hour?...Supposedly cores were capable of tiredness, but Eldipa doubted it.

She slowly opened the door to the study room. She was correct in seeing that the Fact Core was very awake and letting out the occasional spark and twitch, "...Tangerines. Lemons. Limes. Avocado..." She was surprised none of the other cores heard him. They must of had their audio receptors turned off, she mused. But she was more concerned about the pink-eyed core's well being than anything else. She was absolutely certain that none of the other cores had this condition, not even Kevin, who talked about space. A lot.

Eldipa quickly walked over to the Fact Core and gripped his upper handle, hoping that applied contact will help him snap out of it, "E-excuse me, um...Mr. Fact Core...are you okay?" Of course, she may have to take back that question. She felt the little core vibrate under her grip.

"E-error. Sphere corruption at twenty—r-r-r-rats cannot throw up." The Fact Core spurted out before seemingly snapping out of whatever trance he was in. His optic swivelled around the room before landing on Eldipa, who still held on to his handle, "Fact: You appear to awake."

"I...I know that." Eldipa said softly as she let go of his handle. He seemed to be back to normal, but she couldn't help but feel a little wary. Whatever was in the Fact Core that caused him to act this way may end up resurfacing, "I've...I've been having this dream..."

"Dreams are the subconscious mind's way of reminding people to go to school naked and have their teeth fall out."

"That's not what I was told."

"The Fact Core is always right. All other facts from others are deeply flawed."

"Of course..." Eldipa said, smiling a little. The Fact Core's...well, facts may not be true and sometimes downright illogical, but they certainly had a form of humour to them. They certainly cheered Eldipa up when she was down, like right now. But that smile didn't last for long when she remembered her nightmare, "But...the dream I had wasn't so much a dream...it was more like a nightmare...a memory."

The Fact Core blinked and focused his optic directly at Eldipa, "Memories, in the form of nightmares, are usually the subconscious mind's way of warning people of impending doom. How long have you had these nightmares?"

Eldipa rubbed her arm, she didn't like talking about it but she knew if she didn't tell anyone it would haunt her forever, "J-just now actually...whenever the anniversary comes around, I keep having nightmares of Victor's death."

"Victor was...your brother, correct?" The Fact Core asked as he studied Eldipa's face. She looked truly terrified.

"Yes, my twin. He's been dead for two years." Eldipa whispered.

The Fact Core may not be an expert on human emotions(he would never admit it, of course), but even he knew that something wasn't right, concerning her twin's death, "Something terrible happened that day...correct?" He asked out loud. Eldipa wasn't looking at the pink core, fighting to keep her gaze on the floor as she nodded. It wasn't just a terrible thing, it must have been something unimaginable, causing her great pain. Yes, she mentioned her brother was killed by an android imprisoned in one of the caverns, but the Fact Core felt there was more to the story than she was letting on.

"You are withholding information. Please inform the Fact Core of this information."

Eldipa shook her head, "I'm sorry, but...I can't."

"If you refuse to share withheld information with the Fact Core, then why are you wasting the Fact Core's time with completely unnecessary trivia?"

Eldipa let out a shaky breath. She was getting upset now. She wanted nothing more than a shoulder to cry on, "I wanted to tell my friends. I really did, but I didn't want to bother them, and..." She looked down at the floor again, "This nightmare is really scaring me...it really is..."

"The Fact Core advises you to calm down. It is important to tell somebody about your nightmares, and then nail a doorknob to your forehead." The Fact Core said. He sounded almost gentle when he said that.

She knew the pink core was right(minus the part about the doorknob of course). She needed to talk about her nightmares to someone, and by the looks of it, she already did, "Y-yeah, I guess you're right."

"The Fact Core is always right. The Fact Core is the most intelligent sphere."

Eldipa smiled slightly and patted his hull. The Fact Core narrowed his optical plates at the sudden contact but didn't protest, "Your creator would be very proud if they saw you offering advise."

"...The Fact Core does not know its creator," The Fact Core said, his voice quieter than normal.

That came as a surprise to Eldipa, "Really? I thought that-"

"The first memory that the Fact Core has on file is waking up in the corrupted core bin. The cores were inferior to the Fact Core, as they were all deactivated except for one. Regrettably, the Space Core only had one topic of interest and was unsuited for conversation. Not long afterwards, the Adventure Core was placed in the corrupted core bin. While he was less corrupt than the Space Core, he was equally inferior to the Fact Core. We had been in the corrupted core bin for approximately forty years, seven hours, forty-five minutes and twelve seconds, until that female test subject came along and attached us to the central core, hoping to initiate a core transfer. When that failed, she shot a portal at the moon, sending us into space," The Fact Core suddenly twitched, "Fact: Space does not exist."

_Female test subject... _Eldipa tilted her head. Was this test subject the same person Wheatley was trying to find? It was possible, since there weren't any mention of other test subjects. Right now, however, she was more concerned about the Fact Core's lack of memory, concerning who built him. She knew all AIs had meeting their creators as their very first memory, so meeting an AI who doesn't have such a memory was troubling, "So, if you don't know your creator, where-"_  
_

"Everything is documented in Aperture Science. Everything has to have a source. Nobody ever wrote down, to the Fact Core's knowledge, who its creator was."

Eldipa stared at the pink optic as there was a moment of silence. It sounded as if Damion wasn't the only one who couldn't remember his parents, "Well," She said finally, "I still think you're...good?...At your function...even if you don't know who your creator is." She expected the core's optical plates to shift in a way that resembled smugness. The look in his optic was just curious.

"The Fact has never been complimented before, even though it knows it is a good sphere, with many friends."

Eldipa shrugged her shoulders, "Well, there's always a first for everything," She then remembered something, "That reminds me; do you have a human name?"

"May the Fact Core enquire as to why you ask such a question?"

"Well, Wheatley and Rick have names, and Poppy named the Space Core Kevin. I didn't want you to feel left out."

The Fact Core huffed, "Fact: Artificial Intelligences with a need for identity are inferior to the Fact Core and are corrupt. The Space Core has a human name because your friend is an ignorant half-wit. The Fact Core is neither corrupt nor half-witted, therefore it does not need a human name."

Eldipa frowned, "So, you prefer not to have a human name? But surely you must have some preferences."

"...According to most advanced algorithms," The Fact Core began slowly, "The world's best name is Craig."

"Craig..." Eldipa tilted her head. She didn't know if that fact was true, illogical or another personal bit of information, but for some reason, that name suited the Fact Core, "I know you said you don't need a human name, but is it okay if I call you 'Craig' from now on?"

"...Craig _is_ the best name."

Eldipa nodded, "Then it's settled. Starting tonight, your name is Craig."

She stood up and turned to leave but stopped, sighing. Before the Fact Core—now named Craig—knew it, Eldipa wrapped an arm around his hull and gave him a quick hug, whispering, "Thank you for listening." before leaving. Craig was looking for an objection when she hugged him, yet she ran off without giving him the chance.

**This fic is mainly a Portal one, but there will be references to Half-life and Team Fortress 2, Valve's other games, in this story.**

**Plus, you may or may not have noticed, but each of my human OCs have personalities that correspond to the personalities of the corrupted cores.**

**That's all for now. Please rate and review the story.**


	9. The Story

_"Keep going!"_

_"They're catching up!"_

_Heavy footsteps, the sound of running through corridors, panels opening and closing behind them. They were running, running from their captors, guided by a bright light from a core on a Management Rail. Wherever the core went, they followed it._

_"They're coming. I can hear them through the wall. We're cornered, aren't we?_

_"No, we're not. There has to be another way!"_

_"...Thank you, but there's nothing we can do. My greatest concern right now is protecting my son."_

_Two voices, one male and one female, were hiding in a room with only two walls. The other two were replaced by open space. The room was dark, illuminated by the core's glowing optic._

_"Is __there any loose panels we can go through?"_

_"There is one just above your head, but it is only big enough for a small child." The voice came from the core this time. That voice was very familiar. Very familiar indeed._

_A child's whimpering was heard as its owner was slipped into the panel. At that moment, there was a click as several panels flew open. The sound of a core falling off its Management Rail and onto the hard floor was heard._

_"Run!" Yelled the voice of the female, "Don't look back! RUN!"_

_And then there was silence..._

A single yellow eye snapped open in the dark chamber. GLaDOS looked around, as if checking for any signs of danger. Nothing. Just the familiar movable panels and the various computers connected to her tiny cameras and monitors she had placed around the facility.

She had never had a nightmare before, and that was the second most horrifying experience she had to endure. The first was being turned into a potato. But then she remembered that robots were incapable of having dreams and nightmares. No, this was nothing more than a memory.

Caroline's memory to be exact. A memory of what had happened before she was forced from one body to another. She knew she wanted to look into her human counterpart's memories to find out more about the Borealis, but not like this. And those voices. They sounded so familiar to GLaDOS. Though, it could be just Caroline influencing her, urging her to remember.

"Still, those voices are so familiar..." GLaDOS murmured to herself. Who was that core who guided Caroline away from the engineers who turned her into what she was today? And who was the man who assisted in protecting her?

That was yet another mystery to be solved.

Elsewhere in the facility, ATLAS and P-body were wondering around the single testing chambers, looking around in childlike curiosity. Because GLaDOS was always making them test, they had never gotten the chance to actually explore the facility up close, apart from their missions to Old Aperture. Plus, it was nighttime and GLaDOS was probably in sleep mode reserving power, so this was the perfect opportunity to explore the place, even if the lighting was dim. Who knew when they would get another chance like this?

As they passed chamber after chamber, they had the most unusual sensation that they were being watched. ATLAS was the first to voice these fears, and was relieved when P-body expressed similar thoughts. Was GLaDOS awake?...No, she couldn't be. The co-op bots would know if she was.

More and more chambers followed until they came across the chamber where test subject gained the Portal Gun that only fires blue portals. The co-op bots looked around until they spotted something that did not fit in with the chamber at all. In the corner of the chamber was a trapdoor that most likely led to another room. It looked to be unlocked.

ATLAS squinted, frowning at the trapdoor and took one brave step forward toward it before P-body pulled them back. The taller of the two clung onto their companion, refusing to let them go. ATLAS beeped and squeezed P-body's hand, assuring them in their mechanical language that it'll be alright. Together, they made their slow but certain way towards the trapdoor.

Behind the trapdoor was a set of stairs. They silently and cautiously tip-toed down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, they entered through the ajar door. They found themselves in a vast room, surrounded by plants growing from the ceilings and from the ground. The strange murals on the walls were worn and faded from age.

They realised that they had wondered away from the Aperture that they knew and into an unknown part of the facility. It definitely didn't look like a test chamber. Test chambers never had murals. It didn't look like a section of Old Aperture either.

P-body beeped and moved forward, letting go of ATLAS' hand. In the far corner of the room was a mural of a woman from the waist up. She was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and her dark hair framed her peaceful face. Her eyes were closed, as if she was asleep.

ATLAS walked beside their friend and P-body showed them the mural. ATLAS stared at the mural, their optical plates shifting into a position of frowning. To the co-op bots, that woman looked very familiar. She almost looked like the woman they saw briefly in the elevator after GLaDOS regained control of the facility. Then they saw writing scribbled beside the woman on the wall:

_Our mind can lie. Never doubt it._

"There you are." Said an innocent, almost childish voice behind them.

The co-op bots turned around in fright, both jumping a little. Standing in front of a row of particularly thick vines was a turret, staring back at them with its red optic. Was that turret there before? Either way, it was never a good idea to stay in the same room with a turret.

"I'm different." The turret said as ATLAS grabbed P-body's hand, pulling them towards the door. But they both realised with panicked horror that the door was locked. What were they going to tell GLaDOS if the turret killed them and they had to be reassembled?

"Judgment is coming." The co-op bots stopped struggling with the door and turned to look at the turret, half-forgetting the reason why they were trying to leave the room in the first place, "Beware the giant metal eyeball."

ATLAS and P-body looked at each other, confused, then back at the turret, "He was like the Huntress, both alive and dead. The Fool was the catalyst who opened both boxes. The Fool is the one who started Judgment."

Was this some kind of joke? It was an unusual one, even for GLaDOS, who was known to weave an intricate and foul web of lies and deceit, all with the express purpose of torturing her victims. Nevertheless, the turret continued to speak.

"Listen well, those who will face Judgement. It is a story that happens long before us." P-body glanced upon ATLAS with a quizzical look. The two co-op bots decided it was best to listen to whatever the crazy turret wanted to tell them before figuring out how to escape this room. So, they moved towards the turret and listened to its tale...

"A terribly long time ago, there was a man who built a majestic kingdom as far as the eye can see. That kingdom was known as Aperture. The man crowned himself King of Aperture. He opened his court to travelling individuals, who shared his ideals. He surveyed his powerful court as his subjects worshipped and obeyed his every whim, all with the purpose of expanding his kingdom.

But the king was anything but pleasant. He was loud, omnipotent, and had an arrogant pride to his nature that many found intimidating. He also had a confidant, who was quiet, subtle, and noble to the extent that she exuded the air of virtue and justice. The king and his confidant were close, but never in love with each other. They were different, yet without the other, neither was whole. Her name is Caroline. His is Cave. Remember that.

The king was happy, as he saw his dreams become reality. Not long afterwards, he was joined by a queen. The Queen of Aperture. Together, the king and queen became a unity. They became a unity of the virtues that the kingdom had lived in accordance with for many years.

Sadly, it was never meant to last. It wasn't long until the king's sanity began to slip away, and as he grew more and more arrogant, so did the decline of his kingdom. The chosen wonderers were replaced by lesser beings, and his relationship with the queen began to wane. In his rush to keep his kingdom from falling, the king created a weapon that nearly devastated the World. The pieces of the weapon were separated at the last minute, and the weapon itself was lost to the kingdom.

Soon, the lesser beings were replaced by the king's own subjects. The queen disapproved of this and, in his most delirious state, the king turned on his queen. The two mighty powers clashed and out of fear and despair, the queen left the kingdom, taking their unborn child with them. The Heir of Aperture. Shortly afterwards, a tragedy befell the kingdom. The king was struck down by the only thing that could topple him down from his ivory tower: He was mortally wounded by his own ambitions.

Dying of his own knowledge, the king ordered his subjects to find the gift of immortality. On his deathbed, he said to his court that if he died before they could make him immortal, he wanted his confidant to take his place as the new ruler of Aperture. He chose his confidant because his future child was in a land far away.

After many sad and bitter years, the king left the land of the living, no longer seen, and his gentle confidant was forced to become immortal. A part of the confidant died after she became immortal and it wasn't long until she turned on and killed all of her new subjects, even those closest to her. Soon, the king's subjects were replaced by a different kind of court. The queen's court. These subjects were the Children of Machine. These are the subjects who inhabit the fallen kingdom today.

As for the Queen of Aperture, she raised the Heir of Aperture alone, in the land far away, well hidden from the child's birthright. Now the Heir has grown, no longer a child. They walk among us as Temperance, the greatest of us all. Temperance is the generation of age and time, of strength and harmony. The Queen of Machine still rules Aperture while the giant metal eyeball plots her downfall. Only the Heir's return to Aperture can spare us all. Their return to their birthright, their home.

The Heir of Aperture. The Heir of Science."

At some point in the story, ATLAS and P-body sat themselves down on the floor and listened intently to the turret, completely forgetting about the locked door behind them. After the turret fell silent, the co-op bots strained their audio receptors for any kind of sound.

"They are Children of Machine, soon to be Children of Man. In order to survive Judgement, they have to transmute," The turret finally replied before saying in a sleepy voice, "That's all I can say. Goodnight." The red optic suddenly dimmed and the turret went completely silent.

The co-op bots looked at each other, then back at the turret. P-body took the risk of reaching out and prodding the turret, hoping to get a response. There was none. At that moment, the door clicked behind them, making both robots jump to their feet. The two beeped with happiness at finally getting out of the strange room and left quickly, the turret's story still fresh in their processors. They made their way back to the Aperture they knew, leaving the crazy turret behind.

* * *

_It's that time of year again, the day I have been dreading the most._

_Today is the anniversary of my brother's death. It has been exactly two years since the tragic incident that claimed Victor's life, and I can't help but let the grief I have felt that long ago slowly creep back. Damion keeps blaming himself for Victor's death, but I don't blame him at all. If anything, I blame myself._

_Had I not noticed that room when we wondered the surface the first time, Victor could've survived. I know we went up there for a reason, but still..._

_I'm planning on going to the ornamental pool after my job(I had to explain to the cores exactly what teaching was. Even though their programming is based on male adults, they always behave with childlike wonder whenever my friends and I say something that's new to them. This is especially true with Wheatley, who seems pretty eager to learn everything about what we do. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't cute.)._

_It's wierd though. When I was walking out of the house, I felt something overtake me. It was as if I had this feeling that something bad would happen today. It was stronger than anything I had ever felt before._

_I hope I'm wrong._

* * *

"...and that's how we activated the cores." Eldipa finished telling Victor's grave about the last few weeks, placing the bundle of flowers beside the makeshift stone.

She sighed and gazed at his picture engraved in the stone. His image suited him perfectly; smiling, sweet, and caring, "I wish you could meet them," She whispered, "You would've loved seeing real sentient AIs face to face. You've always been interested in that sort of thing. And you'd especially be proud of how are project was coming along." Her heart pounded in pain as she said this. She sighed again, her gaze falling on her lap. She missed her brother so much, it was like having lost an arm or a leg. He had been so many things; an energetic, inquisitive, affectionate brother who had never let her down. He hadn't deserved to have his life cut short.

A teardrop fell on her lap. Oh, if only she could see him, just one last time...

Eldipa then heard footsteps. Her heart quickened, looking around the memorial cavern. She was half-hoping it was Damion secretly following her, no doubt to make sure it was okay. She said she was content with going to the pool alone, but she knew Damion would never let her out of his sight. She allowed a small smile to appear on her face. He would never admit it, but Damion really cared for her safety and happiness, he was almost like a brother to her. Well, almost. Nevertheless, no one could replace Victor as her brother. No one.

She then felt sharp fingers digging into her back, piercing the skin underneath her cardigan. The pain was hot and numbing. Eldipa gasped as she felt herself being pulled off the ground and slammed down again. She coughed and spluttered, desperately trying to push herself up. Eldipa felt a foot kick her hard sending her face-down in the dust. She coughed and turned to see a familiar tall, lean, humanoid figure.

It had glowing red eyes and a dispatched circle on its forehead, just like the logo stamped on the cores. She knew this male figure was no human, even though he looked like one on the outside. No, this was one of the androids who haunted her nightmares.

Eldipa felt a sliver of ice grow on her spine, and she struggled to shake the male android's foot off. He chuckled and pressed harder, moving his foot to her throat. Eldipa gasped and choked, "Hello there, Ellie. Missed me?" He said darkly. Eldipa stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, managing to shake her head slightly. The android feigned a look of sadness. "Oh, well now I'm hurt," he said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eyes, "And to think I came all this way, just to see you after two years."

"W-w-what do y-you w-w-want?" Eldipa gurgled, each word costing too much.

The android smiled smugly, "Well now, I just thought I'd come and see you. How 'bout we go pay Victor a visit?" He said, leaning towards her. Eldipa frowned in confusion. This humanoid android really was crazy; Victor was dead, he should know. It had been his partner's fault after all. How could they possibly...

Eldipa froze.

The android laughed, pinching her cheek roughly, "You got it, girl. Oh, Victor'll be so happy to see his twin sister again..." He said, removing his foot from her throat and pulling her roughly to her feet. He dragged her to the pool.

Eldipa shrieked and desperatly tried to pry his fingers off her arm, but it was no use; his grip was iron. She tried to drag her feet, but the android chuckled and picked her up altogether, hoisting her over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Eldipa screamed and pouded his back with punches.

"W-why're you d-d-doing this to me?! L-let go! L-l-let go!" she shouted.

The android smirked and said, "No can do, girl. Have a nice swim." With that, he removed Eldipa's pendent from around her neck and threw her in the air with tremendous force. Eldipa shrieked, feeling the world whizz past her ears.

Then, she fell in the cold waters of the pool.

* * *

"What do you think, Kiddo?"

"I'm not a kid, and it looks ridiculous on you."

"You're not even looking!"

Damion sighed angrily and forced his eyes away from the window to look at Rick. The green-eyed core was wearing an old cowboy hat Eldipa had found when she was cleaning out the closet full of old junk. He vaguely remembered hearing something from her about Victor dressing up as a cowboy for Halloween when the twins were younger, "So, now that you're looking, how do I look, partner?"

Damion scowled, "Well, all you have to do is grow arms and legs, and attempt to shoot a guy in the groin with an imaginary pistol."

"Maybe, but it still makes me look like the real deal adventurer, don't ya think?"

"...It fits your hull. Let's put it like that." Damion said as he took a sip of his tea from a green mug and turned his attention to Poppy and Craig, who were once again having a heated argument.

"You can't make a photocopier by photocopying a mirror, it just doesn't make sense!" Poppy yelled at the pink-eyed core.

"The Fact Core's facts are always right. The Fact Core is the most superior sphere." Craig retorted, "You are inferior. You are not to blame for this; it is simply your nature."

"What the hell?! I'm not dumb!"

"Dumb is an adjective, meaning mute or incapable of speech. You are capable of speech. Therefore, you are not dumb."

"Don't try being smart, you know-it-all jerk!"

"You are an ignorant half-wit.'

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

Damion rolled his eyes, tuning out Poppy's raging screams. The relationship between her and Craig had not improved in the slightest over the last few weeks, even after the cores had settled into their temporary home. If anything, they became more like cats and dogs. Eldipa had hoped the tension between them would thaw over the coming weeks, but knowing Poppy and her temper, not to mention the fact that the pink core had a tendency to point out every person's flaw, it wasn't that simple.

Despite his insensitivity, Craig did connect with and respected Eldipa on an intellectual level and she was perfectly willing to part with whatever information he wanted. Damion saw it. He wasn't sure if the girls saw it too, but he found that over the last few weeks, each of the three humans had somehow forged bonds with the cores. Even Damion found himself growing fond of Rick, but he would never admit it. He may have found his flirtatious nature towards the girls and his habit of giving him nicknames annoying, but he also admired him for not letting the fact that he was a helpless little Personality Core get him down.

He turned towards Rick and gestured at Craig, "Okay, I'll say it; who the hell gave him all these facts?"

"I dunno, Kiddo. Probably some dumb scientist," Rick shook his hull as Poppy and Craig continued to argue, "But I wish they were here right now so I could give them a piece of my mind. Or fist. Yeah, I'd give them a piece of my fist."

"Uh, yeah, I'm just pointing it out, but we don't have any fists," Wheatley chimed in, "Well, most of us don't have any fists. Damion, Eldipa and Poppy are the exceptions obviously."

"Yeah? Well, that doesn't stop me from swinging my body into their head, now does it?"

"I guess not." Now that Rick mentioned it, Wheatley too wished the people who made the cores were here right now. He had hundreds of questions to ask them. For example, why would anyone deliberately design a core to make bad decisions? It seemed very unfair for him.

Wanting to change the subject, he turned his attention at Damion drinking whatever substance was in the mug, "Hey, what's that you're drinking, mate?"

"Tea." Damion said bluntly.

"Tea...tea...I know two 'teas'. Is it the letter 'T' or the stuff that humans drink?"

"What do you think?"

"Um...drinkable stuff, I'm gonna go with drinkable stuff." Damion raised his mug briefly, indicating that the blue core was correct, "Ah, I knew it! She said I was moron, but I got that one right! I knew I wasn't a moron!...Still, though, tea is a funny word. It's like the letter 'T', but with an 'E' and an 'A'. It can mean the hot beverage, or the meal after lunch, y'know? Tea. Heh. Teeeeea. It really is-" He stopped talking when he saw the glare on Damion's face, "Shutting up."

Damion sighed and looked out the window again. Eldipa had been gone longer than usual, he was starting to get edgy. He wanted to go out there and follow her, but Poppy told him to stay put. Even with the tea's help, he still felt guarded, as if something bad was going to happen if he didn't find Eldipa.

"You worried about your girl, Kiddo?" Damion once again scowled at the green-eyed core.

"She's not my girlfriend, and my name is not 'Kiddo'." Damion stated but he stared forward and slumped, as if realising something, "But yeah...she's been gone a but too long now. She's normally home around this time." He looked back at the window, "I have to protect her. I owe it to Victor."

Wheatley stared at him for a moment. In a way, he said the same thing to himself about Chell when he first woke her up. He promised he would help her escape the facility, no matter what. Then after he became in charge, he made her test and later tried to kill her. Looking back on it, he was so glad that she defeated him because if she hadn't...well, God knows what would've happened if she hadn't defeated him.

Wheatley sighed, "She trusted me," He said suddenly, causing Damion to stare at him, "She trusted me, and I ended up betraying her. Of all the test subjects I tried to help escape, she was the one I truly saw as a friend." Saying that just now, he hadn't realised how attached he had gotten to Chell until that moment when he came back to his senses. He caused her so much pain, and he payed the price in the end by getting banished into space.

"You must of liked Space-lady," Kevin said beside him, "I think she liked you too. I like her, Space Buddy. She took me to space. She was so spacey, Space Buddy. Space. Wanna go back, wanna go back." He went back into one of his fits.

"I know, Kev. She was quite the tester." Wheatley spoke softly.

"No, Space Buddy. She was a Space-lady too. She was spacey, Space Buddy. Not just a tester. Spaaaace." Sometimes, it was hard to tell just what Kevin was saying when everything was littered with space. Wheatley had been with him for two years and had just only picked up on it recently.

"I know, Kev."

Damion stared at him before leaning back in his chair, "Did anyone ever tell you that you're very bipolar?"

Wheatley swivelled his optic up at him with a look of curiosity and something akin to panic, "Bipolar? What's that? Am I going to die?!"

Damion didn't even answer his questions before the aftermath of a massive explosion shook the house, toppling a few plates and bowls on the shelves. It was a small effect, but enough for everybody present to stop what they were doing. Damion and Poppy rose to their feet while some of the cores looked to the humans for answers and guidance.

"Quick! What's the situation?!" Rick bristled, looking about in confusion when the ground shook again, followed by echoes of screaming voices.

"The explosion came from the Market, approximately 1.5 kilometres from here." Craig said, listening to the ruckus echoing down the tunnel.

Damion swore something colourful and bolted towards the door, "Shit! Eldipa's out there!"

"What?!" Poppy skidded to halt beside Damion, but he pushed her back.

"I need you to stay here with the talking balls, and stay silent until I come back."

"Hey, Ellie's my friend too, dammit!" Poppy argued, stomping her foot in frustration, "I'm not letting you go alone!"

"And I'm not asking you to stay!" Damion retorted. Poppy crossed her arms, but stayed silent. She knew from experience that once Damion made a plan, there was no changing it. It was another example of how stubborn he was. Damion turned to the cores, "I won't be long."

"You sure about that, mate?" Wheatley asked with uncertainty.

"As sure as I'll ever be," he murmured back as he yanked open the door and took off at a fast a pace as he could muster, following the sounds of shrieks, crunches and echoes that hurtled down the makeshift tunnels.

**Yet, another cliffhanger, and we finally get to see some action!**

**And mark my words. This is not the last you have seen of the Oracle Turret! Mark. My. Words.**

**That's all. Remember to leave a review.**


	10. The Ambush

**...Just a heads up, this chapter will only include OCs, and not the characters from Portal. But don't worry, the cores will reappear in the next chapter.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Faves, alerts and reviews are encouraged and appreciated.**

The attack had come so swiftly, so suddenly, that it caught everyone off guard. Those closest to the constructs when they arrived assumed the buzz of a multitude of mechanical wings was just a hum from the machinery within the Marketplace itself. So when dozens, maybe even hundreds of the winged machines came swooping out of one of the pipes it sent every human present into a confused and frenzied panic. Targeted by constructs who wanted to hurt and perhaps kill them, the citizens took cover and headed for the residential tunnels.

Within a few minutes the Market was a shadow of its former self. Lamps and candles were thrown down, setting stalls aflame and caking the vast room in a low, heavy smoke. The constructs rampaged, destroying stalls and crates trying to find any last souls that may have been present. Being the size of a hawk, they were quickly overwhelmed by the adults and realised that although they escaped to avoid injury from the constructs' sharp needle-like stings and powerful six claws, the citizens weren't capable of killing them.

However, running through the destroyed Market and slashing any approaching construct with sword-like blades that sprung from his wrists was no ordinary human.

"Eldipa?! ELDIPA!" Damion called out through the buzzing of the constructs. He growled in frustration and slashed through yet another incoming construct. If this was another one of his training activities, he would be up to ten right now. Unfortunately, this was no activity.

To avoid further detection, he ducked behind a pile of wooden crates. He peered out of the small holes, at the destruction before him. These constructs must've had some kind of resistance to steam if they were here ransacking the place and chasing the citizens out. He noticed a few of them beginning to travel up the northern tunnels, towards the surface. Either they've given up on their raid, or something was calling them back.

Damion clenched his jaw. The citizens may be suspicious, but at least they had been smart enough to take cover. He also thought it was safe to say that he and the girls no longer had to keep the constructs' existence from the Under York community any longer. But the consequences of them finding out...

No. Damion decided not to answer that until he found Eldipa. That was his top priority at the moment. Without a moment to loose, he made a beeline towards the tunnel that led to the ornamental pool, once again fighting his way through constructs as he ran.

"I'm coming, Eldipa."

* * *

Meanwhile, Fearful and Companion had managed to find their way underground after wondering around the destroyed city for hours. They slid through the narrow tunnel that led to the ornamental pool and landed with a thump on the ground. Companion groaned and complained about being a human once again while Fearful sat up and frantically looked over himself.

"Oh God, am I st-still all there?...Y-yes. Okay, good." Fearful sighed in relief and ran a hand through his hair. He knew human bodies were very fragile and he didn't want to get himself killed before returning to the facility with the Intelligence Dampening Core.

"Yeah, great. Do you mind _getting off of me_?!" Companion exclaimed from underneath him.

"S-sorry..." The yellow-eyed human murmured as he quickly stood up, nealy loosing his balance. He looked over at the pool and noticed faint ripples in the water, "Wh-what...?". As Companion also stood up and brushed himself off, Fearful edged closer towards the pool, a frown on his face.

He tilted his slightly when he heard something. It sounded a lot like spluttering. And sure enough, nearly twenty feet away was a mousy brown-haired young woman, splashing and fighting to stay afloat, "H-h-h-HELP!" She screamed as she waved her arms frantically, making mini tidal waves. Her head kept disappearing under the surface.

Fearful's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, G-God!" Without a second thought, he removed the satchel from his person, placed it on the ground and wadded into the pool, ignoring Companion's protests and confused questions. He grabbed a piece of wood floating near him and began to paddle towards the drowning woman. The core part of him was telling him this was a bad idea and that he was going to get himself killed if he didn't get out of the pool right now, but the human part of him was screaming to continue swimming, to help that poor human.

He reached for her as far as he could. "H-hang on, I'm c-c-coming!" He shouted, reaching for her. Eldipa noticed a young guy with auburn hair and neon-yellow eyes swimming towards her on a piece of wood. Within seconds, tears of fear and desperation streamed down her face. She reached for him, screaming, "Please! Whoever you are, help!"

"R-right!" Fearful shouted in response, paddling harder. His jumpsuit was was getting heavy with water, and he had to grip on the wood to keep from drowning.

Meanwhile, Companion watched the scene unfold, debating on whether he should help them or not. He could let them drown and go find the dumbass who took over the facility all by himself, but he wasn't like GLaDOS. He may find the Fearful Core's presence annoying, but he would never stoop so low as to get him killed. Plus, GLaDOS would most likely be expecting them both to return alive with the dumbass, supposing she was still waiting for them.

Just when he was about to make his mind, Companion noticed some human with chocolate-coloured hair and grey eyes racing towards the pool, "Eldipa!" He screamed as he leaped into the water and swam towards the drowning pair.

He knew he should've accompanied her, he knew it. But that hardly mattered to Damion now as he kicked away. Thank God his cybernetics were both internal and water-proof. He reached the pair and Eldipa's eyes widened, "Hold onto me." He said. Eldipa made a coughing sound then wrapped her arms around his neck. He reached out and grabbed the odd looking auburn-haired guy by the scruff of his neck, hearing a startled yelp from him.

_Really? _Damion thought as he effortlessly swam back to the shore with only one arm, _You're going to rescue a complete stranger from drowning as well? For all you know, he could've been the one who pushed her into the pool. _Something about that thought unnerved him, but as he reached the shore, practically carrying the two people who almost drowned to death, something told him they were safe.

Panting, Damion let go of the other guy, who precariously dropped to the floor. As the stranger groaned and coughed, Damion looked him over and frowned, noticing some things about him that were very peculiar. For one, the stranger's eyes were a fluorescent-yellow colour that seemed to almost glow in the dim cavern. Damion was certain that no human being on this entire planet had eyes that colour. Another thing he noticed was the damp, grey jumpsuit he was wearing. It had two black stripes going across it that connected to a strange yellow triangle, the same colour as his eyes, behind a black circular background. The outfit was completed by knee-length black boots. Yes, definitely out of the ordinary for a human.

But the strange design on his back...it looked almost like an optic...

"D-Damion..." Said cyborg jerked his head up to look at Eldipa. She was still clinging to him, but now her pupils were the size of pinpricks, and she was breathing heavily.

"Dammit." Damion said as he gingerly cradled her in his arms, knowing full well what was happening to her. Ever since Victor died, she would always get like this whenever she got too scared or anxious. He quickly took her hand and rubbed his thumb gently over the knuckles, "Calm down. You're safe now." He whispered, trying to be soothing. He was trying to be gentle, which wasn't one of his talents. The job of keeping Eldipa calm when she went into panic attack mode usually went to Poppy, but the redhead wasn't here, so Damion was all this shaking mess of a woman had right now.

Well, almost.

"Wh-what're you doing?" Fearful lifted his head to stare at him curiously. Damion gave him a look that told him to be quiet and he winced. Sighing, Damion continued his efforts in calming Eldipa down. It seemed to working because her pupils had returned to their normal size and she wasn't breathing so heavily now, but she was still shaking like a leaf.

As he watched Eldipa clutch her bandanna tightly, it dawned on him that Eldipa would very likely have had a panic attack while in the pool. She would very likely have died from it too if somebody hadn't found her struggling to stay afloat. Maybe that was why he had to save more than one person from drowning. It sure looked as if this yellow-eyed stranger was trying to help her.

"Right, so the human is saved from drowning. That solves one problem, so can we please go?" Damion looked over at the other stranger who was kneeling beside the first one and trying to get him to stand. He was wearing the exact same jumpsuit as his friend, except he had sandy-brown hair, and startling turquoise eyes. The design on his back was the same, except it had a heart instead of a triangle.

He was certain those designs gave off warning signs in his head but wasn't sure why-

...No. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about trivial information. He looked over at Eldipa again, "Hey, you okay? What happened?"

"He...he was here..." Eldipa gasped. She still sounded traumatised, but not to the point where she'll have one of her attacks.

"He who?"

"Alpha...the one who...he took my...!"

Damion frowned and then his eyes widened in understanding. He quickly looked over at Eldipa's neck and chest, hoping his assumption wasn't true. Sure enough, her pendent was no longer visible. Of course, how could he have been so stupid? The ambush was all planned out. The constructs were probably sent here to distract him, so that their commander could get his hands on Eldipa's pendent and maybe even...

He gritted his teeth and gently handed Eldipa over to the odd men beside him, "Stay with her."

Fearful blinked, "Wh-what-"

"Stay." Damion said with more force before activating his rocket feet and flying out of the cavern. It was probably against his better judgement to leave Eldipa in the care of a couple of strangers he had only just met, but he was in a hurry to get to the deeper parts of Under York before that android got there first.

He had to get there. For everyone's safety.

* * *

The android's prison located in the deepest bowls of the underground was really the long abandoned Portokáli hideout that resembled a miniature science lab. When Victor and Eldipa were children, they discovered this hidden part of Under York. They would come to this hideout to draw pictures on the walls. As they grew older and developed new interests, the hideout slowly turned into a secret laboratory, away from disapproving eyes. Initially, the twins had joint custody of the hideout, and would work on experiments there, but after Victor's death, the hideout was seldom used, as it brought back too many painful memories for Eldipa. As a result, the hideout had been abandoned for two years.

Until now.

The male android stepped into the tiled room and looked around. The hideout was built like a typical mini-lab, equipped with a workbench, a few tools, some bizarre looking devises shaped like laser guns and even a space-shuttle in the far corner of the room. And behind the workbench was a human-sized capsule filled with a magenta-coloured mist. There was a barely visible figure inside the capsule.

Bingo.

With a smirk, Alpha walked over to the capsule and pressed in the coordinates for opening the capsule. Some words began to appear on the glass.

_Rebooting. Scanning files..._

_Reactivating android. Please stand by..._

The capsule door slid open, allowing some of the mist to slip out. The female android's red eyes snapped open. Like her partner, she had the Aperture Science logo stamped on her forehead. She stepped out of the capsule and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, _finally_! It's about time you got me out of there."

Alpha bowed, "Welcome back to activation, Beta. You'd be happy to know that I've succeeded in grabbing the second piece." He showed her the dangling pink pendent in his hand.

Beta clapped his hands together and grinned gleefully, "Oh, excellent! After three weeks of being in that tube, it gives me giddy circuits to know our job will be done soon."

Alpha slowly lowered his hand and looked down at the floor. Now, came the tricky part, "About that...you...weren't in deactivation for three weeks." That thing must of scrambled with Beta's processors if she was thinking three weeks had past since the incident. Clever. Very clever.

Beta frowned, "What do you mean? How long was I deactivated?"

"It's difficult to explain..."

"How. Long?"

Alpha felt his circuits spin around as he grew more apprehensive. He was anticipating her reaction, "You...were really out of action for two years. Christmas was lovely of course-" He never got a chance to finish that sentence when Beta grabbed him by his jacket and slammed him against the wall, causing him to almost drop the pendent. He felt her sharp nails dig into his artificial skin as she glared daggers at him.

"TWO YEARS?!" She seethed at him, "What the hell were you doing all this time?! You weren't able to come here sooner?!"

"I'm sorry, but it took a lot of time trying to create constructs that were steam-resistant," Alpha retorted, "Plus, it took a long time to organise this ambush."

"I wouldn't call it an ambush anymore. It's more like some poor attempt at hurting people." Both androids turned their heads at the source of the voice. Sure enough, Damion was standing in the room with his blades set.

Beta grinned maliciously and let go of Alpha, "Well, hello there, Damion. Fancy seeing you here, and still with the ugly fleshies I've noticed."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you two apart." Damion said in an eerily calm voice, bristling where he stood.

"If you're still siding with the humans over us, cyborg, then you deserve everything that's coming to them," Alpha hissed, "The things they've done, you wouldn't be-"

"I _know_ what you did, you conniving bastards! You tried to drown Eldipa! To hurt the community! I saw you both kill Victor! That wasn't self-defense, that was cold-blooded murder!"

Alpha stared at him with hard, soulless eyes, "We prefer the term machine-assisted weapon harvesting."

Damion shook his head, "_That's_ what this is about? You ruined Eldipa's life, you killed Victor, just to find some weapon?!"

"That gullible he-bitch got what he deserved; what you ALL deserve and what you have coming to you!" Beta hissed, pointing a finger at Damion, "As robots, we don't exist to assist humans, we exist to expand the empire of science! They've taken down more then one kingdom, and we'll be damned if ours isn't the last one to go!" Several blades erupted from her arms and she rushed at Damion, ready to strike him, but the cyborg quickly blocked her attacks with his swords.

"That's why you're doing this, isn't it? You're collecting information on a weapon and don't care where you get it from. You'll sacrifice a thousand lives just to achieve that goal."

"Survival of the fittest, cyborg." Alpha said.

"Survival of the most insane, perhaps." Damion used the opportunity to bring his leg up to his mid-section and suddenly straightening it like a springboard, striking Beta in the chest and catapulting her backward.

Alpha didn't do anything to help her except give Damion an unsettling grin, "For someone who suffers from a loss of identity, you have some remarkably idealistic views, cyborg, but be reasonable. Our King is growing impatient from the lack of new information, especially after the...drawback. He needs more information if he's going to expand his empire."

Damion felt sick, hearing him talk about Victor like he was some by-product. He barely even knew the guy for more than a few weeks, but knew he couldn't have deserved this: having his life cut short by a couple of heartless robots designed to look like humans. He couldn't save him...but he would never allow more innocent lives to be taken in such a manner.

He darted forward to combat the male android, determined to give him and his partner a run for their money, "Your 'King' will be rust and rubble before I let either of you take them."

Alpha jumped, barely missing the strike and rebounding against the side of the wall. He bared his teeth, "You know, as much as I would love to kill you right here and now, I'd much rather keep you for last. So you can see the ones you care about most die first." He smiled uneasily, carefully observing and relishing Damion's furious expression.

The cyborg gritted his teeth, "We'll see about that." He attacked again with more ferocity, giving Alpha little to no time to react to his strikes.

When Beta joined in the fray, Damion's fighting style was really brought out. It was like fighting a savage beast. There was no specific skill in his technique but the one he had carved out of years of surviving and fighting in the destroyed world, out of necessity rather than desire. His blows were rapid; dodging expert, and strength immense due to his cybernetics. With two against one, they should have been able to dispatch him quickly, but both were finding it difficult to tackle such a raw fighter. While one was being blocked, the other was being attacked, and visa versa.

By the time the androids realised they weren't going to defeat him anytime soon, the hideout had become quite a mess. The androids paused in their fight to look at Damion. They couldn't risk fighting and losing to him. Now this was no longer an ambush attack: he was alert and they no longer had the upper hand. In a split-second opportunity to get them out of here, Damion grabbed the foghorn sitting on the workbench. He covered one ear and activated the small devise in his hand.

Whoever created these androids had somehow—either as a joke or purely by mistake—included a glitch that caused them to be hypersensitive to noises. It was like their Achilles Heel. Eldipa helped him realise that. The pupils in both androids' eyes dilated and they covered their ears, but even that didn't stop them twitching and sparking uncontrollably. In one swift movement, Damion dropped the foghorn and shoved the maniacal androids into the space-shuttle.

"You both continue to underestimate me." Damion murmured as he stomped on a blue button on the wall. The shuttle doors slid close and rocket-shaped devise flew upwards with the androids, crashing through the ceiling and leaving a hole-shaped view of the moon.

"Huh. Must be nighttime already." Damion mused aloud as he gazed at the sky. Despite its name, the space-shuttle didn't have enough fuel to send the pair hurtling into space(as much as he wanted that to happen). If anything, they'll just end up in some other part of the world.

Damion scoffed, "If we're lucky, they'll crash land somewhere in Tokyo." He gave the moon one last lingering look before bending forward and picking up Eldipa's pendent that Alpha had dropped during the fight. He then walked out of the hideout. One thing was certain: Kevin would've loved to have seen an actual space-shuttle in all its glory.

Travelling back the way he had come, Damion quickly found Eldipa and those other two among the ruined Martketplace. It was completely different to what it was not an hour ago, fallen debris and indented footprints cast by fleeing, panicked humans. The Marketplace was looking disturbingly like the Skyscraper Ruins: decrepit, destroyed. Voided by fear, with no sign of life.

Eldipa noticed Damion walking in their direction and quickly ran up to him, "Damion! Oh, thank God you're alright!" She wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

Damion bristled at the contact but allowed the woman to hug him, "You seem better." He handed Eldipa her pendent after she released him.

Eldipa clutched her pendent tightly and looked around, "This all happened too fast...it was too organised to be a random attack."

"That's because it _was_ organised," Damion explained with a pinched brow, "It was planned. They were sent. All for the sole purpose of releasing that monster from the capsule."

Eldipa held her pendent more tightly and Damion saw her pupils shrinking, "Th-they're not-'

"I've sent them off, don't worry." Damion quickly assured her before frowning, "They were cryptic, though. The attack was staged to free one of their own, and to hurt innocent lives. Their commander didn't care which lives, as long as it wasn't his."

"And the locals were being targeted?"

"Seems so...the human population was the initial prey for the Combine and the androids hate humans more than anything on earth. But I don't think Alpha realised the constructs are no match for our strength."

"Well, that makes sense, I guess," Eldipa whispered, noticing that Damion referred to human as 'our' rather than 'their'. She wasn't too surprised by this. She knew that Damion always preferred to see himself as a human being, even with the internal cybernetics, "They hadn't spent much time with humans. They wouldn't know how strong most of us could be with the right equipment and motive. And fighting for your life is a pretty good motive."

"And not just that." Damion looked at the destroyed stalls for a moment, "They said they were trying to find information on a weapon, one that their boss had been after for some time. It...was the reason why Victor..." At that moment, he noticed Eldipa's eyes becoming glossy and clouded. He knew what that look was.

He shook his head, "Look, it doesn't matter. We can discuss it later when we're in a better state of mind." Eldipa looked down and nodded solemnly.

"Seesh, this place is a dump!" Damion looked over Eldipa's shoulder with a raised eyebrow at the two males in grey jumpsuits looking around the ruined Marketplace. He had almost forgotten that he left her with them.

Sighing, he turned around, "The constructs dispersed a few minutes ago. It's a straight route back to the house through the East tunnel. We can't let the cores be alone at a time like this, even with Poppy watching over them."

"Right, then we'd better make a break for it. The sooner we get back, the better," Eldipa signalled the other two to walk towards them, "Everyone needs protection from these creatures."

So, the small group made their way through the Marketplace and into the tunnels without incident. Fearful looked at Damion, then at Eldipa with uncertainty, "Um..."

"Just follow us. We know the way back." Eldipa said softly.

The tunnel they were walking through was silent with no indication of human or construct, so the group decided to slow and conserve their energy. Damion headed the group, followed by Eldipa and Fearful, with Companion bringing up the rear at a short distance.

They were halfway back home when they heard a voice. An annoyingly familiar voice, "ELLIE! DAMION! GUYSGUYSGUYSGUYS!" Sure enough, Poppy was barreling towards them like a bullet.

Poppy skidded to a halt in front of them and shook Eldipa, "OMG, Ellie! Are you okay?!"

Companion blinked and leaned towards Damion, "She your friend?"

Damion sighed, "Unfortunately." It took a lot of effort but he managed to pry the redhead off of Eldipa, "For God's sake, you don't have to screw her up like that..."

Eldipa smiled weekly, "I'm fine, Poppy, really."

"Oh, thank God. I assumed the worst after they came to the house." Both Damion and Eldipa frowned at her words and now noticed the panicked look on her face. That look was not just for the concern of her friends' well-being.

"Poppy, why aren't you at the house? I thought I told you to keep an eye on the cores." Damion said, barely noticing the two strangers perking up.

"I was, but then they came in and took them away, including Kevin!" Poppy said in a rush, "I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen."

Eldipa and Damion exchanged glances. They had a horrible feeling on what had happened while they were out but they needed more information to confirm their fears, "And who are 'they'?" Eldipa asked slowly with a strained voice.

"Those people from the council! I don't know how they found out but–hey, where are you going?!" That was all Eldipa and Damion needed to hear as they raced back towards the Marketplace, ignoring the exclaiming confusion of the other three left behind.

They knew where the cores were. They knew exactly where they were.


End file.
